Teach Me How to Kiss
by sannique
Summary: Hermione's life was at its peak: They had won the war, she could return to Hogwarts to complete the NEWTs and she was together with Ron. But everything fell together when her boyfriend suddenly gave her the cold shoulder. In her despair she found Draco doing something illegal and took advantage of the situation. EWE, DMHG
1. 1 Disappointment

A/N: Hello lovelies. This fanfic is DMHG and continues after the war. Some things might not be the same as in the Harry Potter books for example Lavender Brown may be alive, Lucius is in Azkaban in this fanfic etc.

Hope you will enjoy it!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, I'm not J K Rowling (she's the queen tho) and this disclaimer counts for every chapter of this fanfic of course (just too lazy to write it always all over again since this is quite obvious).

PS: To make it clear, this fanfic is not going to be all dramatic and emotional over the war, they are glad that it is over and mainly recovered during the summer (they had 4 months, the war ended on the 2nd of May and it is September the 1st now)

And it is M Rated because there_ might_ be some M rated chapters or some M rated moments, but yeah... enjoy!

**A/N: Update Dec 2015**

Hello everybody! Thank you for reading my fanfic and hope you all enjoy x  
I deleted the prologue and tried to add it into the first chapter a bit, since I found the prologue rather boring... so yeah enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 1: Disappointment**

**.**

**"**Look at our common room, Harry! It's beautiful!" Hermione marveled.

They entered their private common room, connected to their own bathroom and bedroom. The room was generous, it had a few sofas and two armchairs circling a small table on the left side in front of the fireplace. On the right side were bookshelves, cupboards and a modest, but neat dining table.

At the end of the room was a door leading to their bathroom and in each corner another door, on one written: _Head Girl _and on the other one: _Head Boy_ on it.

She and Harry had spent the summer at the burrow, celebrating their victory against Voldemort and mourning over the loss of close friends and family members. They also had helped the ministry a lot with organizing structures or identifying Death Eaters who were on trial and some days they had helped Professor McGonagall to repair and rebuild Hogwarts with other students and teachers.

One day in July, Hermione and her best friends had received a letter from Hogwarts. It had been an invitation to repeat the seventh year and so having an opportunity to do their NEWTs. They had been inpatient since then, wanting to return to Hogwarts and craving their comfortable common room to create some wonderful memories. Hermione and Harry had also been informed that they would be Head Girl and Head Boy, _if_ they accepted the invitation to return to Hogwarts.  
It had been the most wonderful news during summer, she and Harry had been looking forward to share their common room and doing their duties together, docking points from other pupils and to be allowed to wander around Hogwarts at night.

Now, she was finally back at Hogwarts again, her second home that felt warm and welcoming which it hadn't felt like for ages.

She was endlessly happy and content with her life at the moment, they had won the war,they were back at Hogwarts, which meant staying in the library for hours, studying and discovering new books, besides, she was Head Girl which she always had wanted to be and had her own common room together with Harry, plus she was finally dating her lifelong crush, Ronald. Now was everything she wanted in life.

"This is going to be a fun year!" Harry replied excitedly.

"Look, Harry." Hermione said as she pointed to the portraits above the fireplace – there were a lot of small portraits hanging there. They reminded Hermione of those small Polaroid pictures and they looked exactly the same. They had a name and a year written on the white space underneath the moving portrait.

"These are photos from the previous Head Boys and Head Girls." she said excitingly.

Harry walked to her and looked at the photos. Then he started to smile. "Look, there are mum and dad!"

"They're beautiful, Harry." Hermione said as she put her arms comfortingly around him.

"And there's Voldemort, see, Hermione, that's how he looked like when he was seventeen years old." Harry suddenly pointed at a photo of a handsome man.

"Tom M. Riddle, 1944...Wow... he didn't look like a snake back then." she stated.

They searched for other people they knew and found some interesting photos on the wall. After a while they decided to take a look at their bedrooms.

Hermione opened the "Head Girl" door and checked out the room behind it as Harry did the same thing.  
She had a king sized bed, the well chosen duvet cover was red with golden stripes matching perfectly with her house colour and made the room look warm and comfortable. The walls were mainly cupboards and shelves and she had a beautiful vanity unit. Since she had been together with Ron, she had tried to make herself prettier, her hair wasn't a bushy mess anymore and sometimes she even tried to put on some make up, but removed it quickly afterwards with the thought that it just didn't suit her at all. In conclusion, she wouldn't be using the vanity unit that often.

She started unpacking her books and placed them with care into the shelves. _This is marvelous_, she thought. No more being in the same bedroom as Lavender and Parvati—not that she didn't like them—but they kept talking about boys and make up and all those other things she wasn't interested in. And every time she read a non-fiction book in her bed, they rolled their eyes and continued their typical conversation. Now she had this big room for herself where she didn't have to stuff her books in her trunk or beside her bed, but had enough space for them instead.

"Hermione, are you ready? I'm getting hungry and Ron's probably waiting for us already." She heard Harry call.

oOoOo

The decorations of the Great Hall were as beautiful as always. Thousands of candles were floating in the air and the ceiling was charmed the same way as usual, yet consistently admirable. They reminded her of Dumbledore even though he wasn't the founder of the idea. The walls were fully repaired again and the castle didn't have any scars from the war anymore and it felt secure here, more secure than it ever had been.

Just as she sat beside Ron and gave him a peck on the cheek, McGonagall started the sorting of the first graders.

She looked through the crowd to see who came to repeat the year. Lavender, Parvati, Neville and Dean were at the Gryffindor table. She saw Luna, Padma and some other familiar faces at the Ravenclaw table. Her eyes wandered to the Slytherin table, which had some gaps.

She guessed some former Slytherin students were probably in Azkaban now or had to deal with family crises. She also heard that many parents wanted to send their children to Durmstrang which she found ridiculous, Hogwarts was a much better place to recover from the war.

A blonde head stood out brightly from the crowd. She knew it was Malfoy.

She stared at him, wondering about his life right now. She knew his father was in Azkaban, some of his friends, too.  
He seemed kind of impassive. But he always did. She asked herself if he might have changed during the war which she knew was a silly question, everybody had changed during or because of the war.

Suddenly his eyes caught hers- her heart just jumped. Quickly she looked to the first year students. This was awkward, she hadn't 'exchanged' words with Malfoy for months, not that they ever had proper conversations, but he had seemed odd since the sixth year.

She dared to glance at Malfoy again. _Dumb idea_, she thought as he was still staring at her, his glare was cold, but not as cold as she expected it to be. After all, he probably had a bad time during summer and had to deal with things she couldn't even imagine. A lot of things about his family were published by the Daily Prophet, which surely didn't make his life any easier, but then again, why should she care?

She turned her head to a different direction – making her actions more conspicuous. How embarrassing. He caught her two times in a row.

Ronald looked at her and saw her disturbed face. So he gave her a wet kiss on the cheek. Hermione quickly wiped away his saliva with a slight expression of disgust, but then she squeezed his hand and smiled at her red haired boyfriend. She was happily in love with him and he with her. So why worrying about something trivial like Malfoy?

Anyway, tonight would be a special night for her and Ron. They would make love for the first time. They had planned this night already several weeks ago. At the burrow they never had some time alone and when she had known she'd be the Head Girl and would have an own bedroom, they had seen the opportunity.

She was excited and nervous at the same time. It was her first time, Ron on the other hand was already experienced which made her insecure, but people said it was better when the man had already done it sometimes. Anyway, she was looking forward to it, she loved Ron.

oOoOo

Draco was disgusted. Granger and the Weaselbee were together, eh? He knew something was going on between her and one of her idiotic minions, but he was always rooting for Potter. At least, he had_ some_ galleons.

He sighed heavily, he really didn't want to be here. This summer had been hectic enough for him. He and his father had gone to trial after the war. Lucius had been punished with life sentence imprisonment in Azkaban.  
Luckily Draco hadn't got a bit of a punishment. Professor McGonagall had testified that he had been forced to be a Death Eater and to follow Voldemort's orders. This had happened all thanks to Severus Snape – it had been one of his last wishes to Minerva—that she should take care of his godson Draco.

The farewell to his father had been dramatic, his mother had cried silently for hours. Draco wasn't sure if he should be sad or if he shouldn't care too much. On the battle he had realized how a coward his father was. But it was his _father_ after all who he wouldn't ever see again. The father who raised him and taught him good and bad.

His mother, unlike Draco, was indeed very sad, she had seemed depressed the whole summer, but she had tried to hide it and had tried to live her daily routine, which had returned to what it had been, since the mass murderer no longer lived in their house. Draco had taken care of his mother since then.

So here he was, for his mother he had accepted the invitation to repeat the seventh school year. He really didn't want to make this, he had enough of Hogwarts. But his mother wanted him to have a good certificate. "You have to think about your future" she had said, even though he inherited the Manor already.

It had been all over the Daily Prophet what McGonagall had said about him, that he had done his missions unwillingly. The new headmistress also had said to him after the trial that she would like to create a feeling of unity among the Hogwarts houses which included Slytherin as well; and he had interpreted it as a welcoming invitation to attend the last year, so it was not predictable for him how people would act around him – he didn't really care though, and he also didn't know how this new school year would be. _"Especially with Potter and Granger as Head Boy and Head Girl." _he had thought and fixed his eyes on them again.

It was obvious and rather foreseeable that they had been picked to do that duty, and the redhead was excluded once again. Draco smirked, the annoying little know-it-all and the Weaselbee would surely be entertaining this year.

"What're you staring at?" Blaise interrupted his thoughts.

"Look there, Mudblood and the Weasel are in love, how gross." he grimaced.

"Imagine their children: Their hair would be a red bush" Blaise laughed.

Draco just snorted. He found them utterly ridiculous.

At least Blaise was here, he knew he would make this school year a lot easier. Disappointingly, Nott had been sent to Durmstrang by his parents. But he preferred Blaise anyway.

"And look who's staring at you." His mate's look was directed to the nearer end of their table, where a bunch of sixth year girls were sitting, most of them looked bored, studying their fingernails or watching the first year pupils being sorted.

One girl, with long brown hair and a fair face was looking in their direction while whispering and sniggering around with another girl beside her.

"Astoria Greengrass." Blaise answered his own question. "A tasty Slytherin might be interested in you."

Draco caught her glimpse. Why was everybody secretly watching him?

But Blaise had a point, she_ did_ look tasty.

oOoOo

Dinner was already over and Hermione spent her time in her bedroom waiting nervously for Ronald to visit her. After some hours he finally came, calming her impatience.

"Sorry for being late," he whispered and fell on her bed, Hermione sat beside him.

"It's okay," she replied, and her voice was trembling. This was it, this was the special moment.

After some nervous small talk, he started to kiss her. And he kissed her deeply. He laid his hand on her hip while she closed her eyes and returned his kisses enthusiastically. Her heart raced and it felt as if her gut was burning, yet happiness and anticipation bloomed in her.

Ron played with her tongue and she felt his hand wandering up to her chest. He opened the first buttons of her shirt, so he could touch her naked, creamy skin. His hands were sweaty and soft like his kisses and his scent. But it made her comfortable since it was very familiar to her.

Furiously she placed her hand where his bulge should be by now.

But there was no bulge?!

They kept snogging and she tried to massage his junk, trying to bring him into the mood, but after fifteen minutes there was still no bulge. She felt her panic rise gradually and her hands got as sweaty as his. Her movements started to get pathetic and she was embarrassed.

She opened her eyes and stopped all actions.

"Ron..." Hermione started with a calm, but worried voice. "Is everything alright?"

He removed his hand from her chest and scratched his head.

"I... I think tonight is not the right time" he murmured.

She didn't understand, they had planned this for so long. And he was always ready for it usually. She felt ugly and her heart started to beat faster, she was getting nervous, but not the excited type of nervousness, but the type of nervousness she got after she handed in an essay she only read through twice.

"But why not? I thought you were looking forward to this." She frowned. And he had been, on the Hogwarts Express he had kept making remarks about tonight, she knew he had been as excited as she had been, when not more.

"Um... uh well Mione..." he stammered. "You kiss weird." he stated then.

"What?" she gasped. She didn't kiss good enough for him... to get hard? She felt her whole head turning red. Merlin, this was embarrassing.

"You... you kiss weird and it is disturbing, y'know, the process." he admitted.

Her heart dropped realizing that this whole time he didn't enjoy her kissing him. But she didn't understand, Ron became lustful many times as they were snogging and_ she_ was usually the one who talked some sense into him, saying it wasn't intelligent to do it at the Burrow and let him wait.

"But uh.. you had hard-ons already several times..." she muttered.

Ron got up and stood in front of the bed, his red hair looked slightly brown because of the darkness. Hermione felt her heart stumble and a burn in her throat.

"Well," he started, "I could distract myself back then. But now..." he shrugged.

She felt disgusting. For four months they had kept snogging and he had not even enjoyed it. And she had no clue. She felt like a major disappointment in being a girlfriend. But why didn't he tell her anything? While she had been hopelessly in love with Ron and had felt her hormones rush through her body, he had been turned off by her?

It was like Yule Ball all over again, she felt disappointed from the moment, from herself and from her wonderfully planned evening and felt guilty and horrible towards Ron.

"Erm... I'm about to leave, alright?" he said, awkwardly.

Hermione just nodded and waited him to leave. She didn't even want to take him to the door.

He left with slow, hesitant steps and closed the door behind him.

She suddenly felt a huge distance between her and Ron. Was she so passive that she had never noticed his dislikes? She couldn't believe it, and she thought Ron was not an empathetic person. Her whole world was turned upside down and she regretted to have planned this night for so long. She knew her luck was miserable and could've reckoned with it to get disappointed.

She threw her face into the pillow. _Alright_, she thought, _nothing to worry about_.

Next time she will just concentrate on her kissing and this will only be a small tiny event in her relationship that wouldn't be a matter in one week anymore.

_Right?_ She thought, still feeling the stitch in her heart.

* * *

A/N: yes a small Dramione moment in the first chapter already, yay! Tell me what you think of this chapter, please write reviews and tell me what was good and bad about it. Always open for critics! Thanks for reading!


	2. 2 Desperation

**Chapter 2: Desperation**

**.**

One week passed and Hermione's relationship with Ron became odd. She had the feeling he was avoiding her. After dinner, for example, Harry and Hermione kept inviting Ginny and Ron – sometimes Luna and Neville, too – to come over to their common room and hang out for a bit. But Ron often brought up excuses and hurried to the Gryffindor common room.

Harry even asked her if something was wrong, but as much as she loved Harry, he wasn't the person Hermione would like to talk about sex or relationship problems and the fact that she had those problems with Ron didn't make it any better.

So she always said to him that there was nothing bothering her. But it was just the opposite.

Hermione didn't feel well at all. She couldn't concentrate in classes and when she was reading in the library she needed almost half an hour for a page.

This was a crisis in her relationship. The biggest concern to her wasn't that she was not able to sexually turn on her boyfriend - nevertheless it was a major problem - but that Ron didn't want to be alone with her at all. 

The past week they hadn't had a single conversation without Harry or Ginny or anybody else around.

At first Hermione had thought it might have been because school recently had started and they had had a lot of different activities to do. 

But then there had been times when Harry had left and Ron _magically_ had a reason to 'escape' their private talk and within some seconds she had been alone. 

Okay, that could happen. But one time at breakfast when Harry had already been gone and she deliberately had waited for him, he had sat beside Luna and had acted as if he hadn't seen her, until she had stood up and had walked to the Ravenclaw table. And everything he had said had been: "Sovvy" while munching his toast.

"Miss Granger?" Professor Vector called her out.

"Um, excuse me?" she was diverted once again, worrying over Ron.

She was a mess, how could it happen that she can't even give some attention to class.

"The answer, Miss Granger." Professor Vector repeated with a strict smile.

"Nine." she answered with confidence. At least she still did the exercise. She did it, slow and with several attempts to finish it, but she did it.

As soon as she didn't solve her exercise (or did it incorrectly, which was for her the same thing), she was definitely lost.

"False, Miss Granger you have been very inattentive lately. Five points docked from Gryffindor." She said, now with a serious expression.

What, her answer wasn't right? Okay, she was already lost! _This is ridiculous, _she thought, _what is happening with me_?_  
_She was angry with herself – and she lost points for Gryffindor which she found unacceptable as head girl.

"Mr. Malfoy?" she continued.

"The answer is seven" Malfoy said lazily who was sitting some seats behind her, although a lot of rows were empty. Arithmancy wasn't a popular subject. Ron and Harry weren't here for example. Still, there were more people than usual in this class, because the 'eighth graders' were put together with the seventh year students.

Professor McGonagall didn't see any sense to do an extra year for the repeating students since many had died, some were in Azkaban and not everybody had been ready to return to Hogwarts.

Professor Vector just nodded, gave five points to Slytherin and conjured some exercises on the board.

Hermione looked annoyed back to Malfoy, who had only a smirk on his face.

She turned her head again and tried to focus on the lesson.

oOoOo

After Arithmancy she had free period. She was glad that classes was over now—usually she left a classroom inspired and in a good mood, but in her condition, she wanted the lesson to end as fast as possible.

Relieved, she walked to the Gryffindor common room, where she was going to meet Harry, Ginny and Ron. He couldn't avoid her in his own common room, could he?

"Password, please," the fat lady on the wall said.

Hermione muttered the password and the portrait opened itself like a door. She climbed through the hole and saw her mates sitting on the couches.

"Hey Hermione. How was Arithmancy?" Harry greeted her.

She sat beside Ron, who was sitting on a sofa alone and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"It was alright." she answered casually to her best mate, sitting opposite to him on the other couch.

The couple reacted with a confused expression—after all she loved Arithmancy and it was never only an 'alright' for her. But Harry didn't bother to ask what was wrong since she gave him repeatedly the same answer, that 'everything's fine'.

So he continued, "Guys, Ginny, I have to leave you for three days alone."

"What? It's only the second week of school!" Hermione frowned.

"I know, but I have some orders from the Ministry. I already talked to Professor McGonagall about this, that I will be away some times. She told it isn't optimal since I am the head boy and she may look around for a deputy." he stated.

"Gin, are you going to help me pack some stuff?" Harry looked at his girlfriend with a soft smile.

Ginny nodded "See you later, you two."

Hermione and Ron bade farewell to Harry and were left alone in the common room.

Now she was alone with him and he couldn't escape, not this time.

She looked around. There were some fourth year students playing wizard's chess in a corner, but they were too concentrated to give them any attention, therefore Hermione cuddled up to Ron and he put his arm around her.

"We haven't been alone for a long time" she uttered in a quiet voice.

She felt a tension between them and she hated it. Having it weird with Ron just didn't fit. 

Why did her relationship develop to something like this? They were extremely happy during the summer. Or was it just her who felt like that? No that couldn't be, she reckoned.

She had to fix this situation. Not only her romantic relationship, but her friendship would suffer from this.

So, she started to give him delicate kisses. After exchanging some kisses, she licked his lips and her tongue penetrated his mouth while running her fingers through his hair. She knew he liked that, well, back at the burrow he had started to get very passionate after she had done that. And their French kisses were about to get real passionate, but her bliss slipped away as they got interrupted by an annoyingly high voice.

"Um, sorry but it's kind of rude to snog around here. You are not alone in the common room" Hermione recognized the voice. It was Lavender Brown. Miffed she looked at her and apologized.

"Let's go to my common room," Hermione suggested, she thought there was a good chance that he would agree to her idea this time.

"Actually..." he started. And she knew she thought wrong. Her heart dropped, and the stitch came back.

"I don't feel well, my belly hurts." Was this another excuse?

"Do you want to go to Madam Pomfrey? Or should I get you a potion from her?" she asked worried. Worried, not (only) about Ron, but about what his answer would be.

"Thanks Mione... But I think it's best when you leave." It was just another excuse, and it was official: Her relationship was nearly reaching the end. 

It was a disaster. And this only because she couldn't kiss? She was mad and sad at the same time - mad at herself for being such an unskilled girlfriend.

"Alright," she answered him, her voice trembling. Her eyes became watery, but she left before anyone could see her face.

She sobbed after the portrait closed itself behind her. It hurt badly to feel no love from your lover. Stupid anticipation, she thought. It was dumb of her to be too excited for this school year, after only one week she could throw away her expectations and ideas she had had in the summer. Hermione knew that this was not only a _tiny_ fall in her relationship, this was getting serious.

She walked down the stairs while wiping away her tears. _Crying doesn't help_, she thought. She needed to fix this properly. She had to take action.

Hermione took a deep breath and told herself to calm down.

_The library_, she thought. She would just look for some books that would help one with relationship problems, there were many books like these in the Muggle World; so the Wizarding World would probably have some, too.

oOoOo

Draco entered the Slytherin common room. There he saw Blaise sitting on his favorite armchair.

"Move, Zabini. That's my chair." 

Blaise turned his head around.

"Hey mate, too late." he bantered. Draco sat at the couch beside him.

"So, how was Arithmancy?" Blaise enquired.

"Boring, as always. But it was entertaining to watch the famous Mudblood answering every question false." Draco snorted.

"How about you, how was Divination?" he asked back.

"Trelawney was crazy as ever. But Lovegood said some interesting things." Blaise smirked.

Before Draco could give his answer any thoughts, the door of the common room opened and Astoria Greengrass came in, walked to the couches and sat opposite to Draco. He was kind of surprised, no one just sat down when he and his friends were already there. Both glared at her, waiting for her to say something.

"You were classmates of Daphne, right?" Astoria asked them straight forward.

"Yeah. And you, little girl, are?" Draco smirked. He asked even though he knew who she was. He liked how she acted all confident and she was pretty. But she was quite young and who knew how far her cheeky character could get.

"I am Astoria, her sister. And you are obviously Draco Malfoy." giving him a mischievous smile.

"I am Blaise Zabini and leavin' for a while." his mate winked and got up. Draco watched him leave the common room.  
Draco knew Blaise did this on purpose, leaving them alone. Let's just say he was a real Slytherin, always helping a friend.

"So, Astoria, why are you here?" Draco continued and turned his look back to her, scanning her. She had straight and long hair, but unlike her sister's it was brown. Draco preferred brown or black hair on girls, he found it unique even though it wasn't rare, but his whole family had blond hair. Her skin was fair and flawless and she had long, curly eyelashes, accentuating her blue-grey eyes. She was a petite girl, though she didn't look weak at all.

She flipped her hair back. "Actually", she started while rummaging through her purse, "I have to deliver something to you."

She found a letter and held it in her feminine hand. "My sister gave this to me, but you have to know, I'm not doing this for free." she told cheekily.

"And what do you have in mind?" Draco still had a smirk on his face. Other girls wouldn't dare to talk with him like that and tried to soft-soap him because he was a Malfoy and he found that quite annoying, Astoria however was different and refreshing.

"You have to accompany me to Hogsmeade," she stated with a flirty smile, gave him the letter and walked away without saying another word. Draco watched her leave. _This girl is getting interesting_, he thought. Also, she was so far his type: pureblood, Slytherin, physically attractive and she was bold.

Anyway, why did Greengrass send him a letter, and why did she give it to her sister instead of sending it by owl—it didn't make any sense to him. Curious what the content might be, he ripped the envelope open and unfolded the letter.

He read the first lines with a frown:

_Dear Draco,  
It's me, Pansy. I know it is dangerous to send you this letter, but […]_

He gasped. A letter from Pansy, from Azkaban? Was she insane to send him this letter?! It was highly forbidden to have any contact with the outside world as a prisoner. How had she even given this letter to Daphne? Draco got nervous, he didn't want to get involved with illegal things, he had been on trial the whole summer long and the ministry had still an eye on him.

Draco tried to stay calm and looked around the common room. There were some younger students in the corner gossiping and a few seventh year students in front of the fireplace._ Too many people_, he thought and decided that he needed more privacy to read this and _eventually_ answer this, no one, not even Blaise should know about this, it was too risky for him.

It took him a moment to think where to go. Then, he gripped the letter and hurried to the library.

oOoOo

Hermione rubbed her eyes while going to the library. She knew the directions by heart and didn't need to open her eyes. She wasn't only going there to look for some books, it was the only place where she could feel at ease right now. The smell, the atmosphere, she loved it and it would be a good distraction.

There she was, almost at the entrance when she suddenly walked into someone.

"Ouch" the other person growled as Hermione apologized absently and picked up the paper that fell on the floor.

"Granger!"

"Malfoy?!" she cried, after she looked up. Malfoy was looking down at her, annoyed. _That's the last thing I needed_, Hermione thought.

She stood up and wanted to return the paper, until she accidentally read the first lines.

"Dear Draco, it's me_ Pansy_?" she started of quietly, her tone grew louder and confused. She was shocked. Wasn't Pansy in Azkaban? 

For, like, four months?!

"Give this to me, Mudblood!" Malfoy hissed, reaching out for the letter, but Hermione had a good reaction rate and pulled her hand away. Was Draco deranged to communicate with her? He could get imprisoned for this. Hermione shook her head in confusion, after all he had been through this summer he would still pull something like this off. If she was in Draco's positions she never dared to do any illegal actions after being almost stuck into Azkaban.

"No Malfoy, what is this? A letter from Parkinson, from Azkaban?! This is strictly forbidden!" She sounded angry, but kept her voice low, she didn't want anyone to hear about this conversation, this was dangerous for Malfoy and maybe for her, too.

"Well, unfortunately this is none of your business." Draco became serious. "Now – give me the letter or I'm going to hex you." His tone sounded bitter, but had a hint of concern in it.

Hermione then smirked. She just had an idea, a desperate idea, but what else should she do, she was terribly desperate at the moment. 

And this could be the solution to all her problems.

Draco saw that she had something in mind, he found her too easy to read. "What do you want, Granger?" he asked, displeased, but willingly to do something.

"I won't tell anybody about your highly illegal letter, if..." she started, then hesitated for a moment. But she decided that this might be the only chance to save her relationship. So she squeezed her eyes together and said quickly,

"If you will teach me how to kiss."

* * *

A/N: Yay, second chapter is out! And extreme dramione moment! Please review this chapter and tell me what you think, if I am moving too fast, describing too little, etc. Thanks for reading!


	3. 3 Disapproval?

**Chapter 3: Disapproval?**

.

"I won't tell anyone about your prohibited actions, if..." Granger started.

"If you will teach me how to kiss" she shot out.

Draco was dumbstruck. What the fuck did the Mudblood just demand?

He grimaced as he imagined what Granger just had said and felt a shiver. _Disgusting._

"What the fuck, Granger, are you kidding?!" he hissed, after staying silent for two minutes.

"I am totally serious, Malfoy." she replied and she did look bloody serious.

_This is crazy_, he first he thought he was hallucinating or dreaming, but she was just out of her mind. And if she thought he'd say yes, then he might send her to Madam Pomfrey, or better, to St Mungo's.

This whole idea made her a qualified patient for St Mungo's, did she forget who he was – he was Draco Lucius Malfoy, pureblood and disgusted by muggle-borns, especially by her.

"You think I'd kiss a filthy Mudblood?! I'd rather go to Azkaban before doing something that gross." he repulsed. With an expression of disgust he watched her how she was thinking.

Then she replied, "Alright, you have time until tomorrow at midday to think about it. If you haven't changed your mind, I will go to Professor McGonagall and tell her your secret. - Or maybe I will go directly to the Ministry."

He assumed she was just bluffing, she wouldn't go to McGonagall, she wasn't that much of a teacher whore. And even if, he would never touch her – let alone kiss her.

"Whatever, but you should know the chance of me changing my mind doesn't exist."

Draco stretched out his hand, waiting for Granger to give him the letter.

First she was confused, but then she realized she was still holding the letter and handed it over.  
Draco noticed that something was awfully wrong with her, she was a total mess. But he didn't care a slightest bit and walked away.

_Fuck the library,_ he thought.

He couldn't read the letter now, he needed to cool off. He ran his fingers through his hair and frowned. Today was too much for him.

First this letter from Pansy and now this weird 'threat' from Granger. He just wanted a pause from this day. He didn't have any more nerves and his only wish right now was to lie down and sleep.

oOoOo

Hermione gradually woke up. The sun shone into her room, making it uncomfortably warm and unable to continue sleeping.

She stretched herself and blinked two, three times. Feeling her puffy eyes – she remembered yesterday's concerns.

She remembered what had happened between her and Ron, how it had felt to almost lose a boyfriend and a best friend and how hurt she had been. How she had got angry at herself messing things up again. And suddenly her heart skipped a beat.

She remembered. She remembered that she had run into Malfoy and had asked him to teach her how to... _kiss?!_

She sat up, shocked, putting a hands on her head as if it would help her to think. Yesterday, after the incident with Malfoy, she had been so weary she had gone directly to bed. And back then she had been so messed up and desperate, she had done something really silly and now regretted her actions terribly. What had she done, this was extremely embarrassing.

How could she face Malfoy after what she had told him? How could she go eat breakfast and risk seeing him? No way would she go to the Great Hall right now.

Her stomach growled. She was awfully hungry though. She had missed dinner yesterday and hadn't eaten lunch properly because of her worries about Ron.

And if she didn't eat something now, she couldn't concentrate at class later. Also, sooner or later she'd have to face Malfoy.

So, she got up and put her hair in a messy bun. She decided to go eat breakfast and if she would see him she'd tell him it was a joke or something like that.

Hermione left her room – and common room – to walk to the Great Hall.

As she entered she smelled the scent of fresh baked bread and honey. She loved to eat breakfast early in the morning and couldn't understand Ron for always getting up late and skipping the first meal of the day. Nervously she glanced through the Slytherin table, she saw Blaise Zabini, but Malfoy wasn't in sight. She was relieved and dropped her shoulders, she had some luck at last.

Hermione traipsed over to Luna who sat at the Ravenclaw table and waved at her

"Good morning Hermione. The pumpkin juice tastes exceptionally delicious today," Luna greeted her.

"Good morning. Ginny's not here yet?" Hermione enquired while taking a seat opposite to her.

Luna shook her head as response. There weren't many people in the Great Hall, it was still early.

Hermione reached out for a slice of toast and spread honey on it.

"There she comes," Luna said as Ginny walked to them with an excited smile.

"Good morning, you're in a good mood." Luna stated. Ginny sat beside her – she was lively even though it was like said early in the morning.

"Girls! Haven't you heard the news?" she squealed.

_What news, that I had the most embarrassing afternoon yesterday,_ Hermione thought.

"No I haven't" she answered instead. Luna was clueless, too.

"Okay! So, Professor McGonagall has this project this year, making Hogwarts a happy place and wanting to make pupils feel united because of the war, right? And Madame Olympe Maxime agreed to do an exchange project!  
There will be around 20 to 30 pupils that are allowed to go to Beauxbatons for two weeks, soon, around October or something. Later on April next year 20 to 30 pupils from Beauxbatons will come visit us, isn't that great? And those who want to go can apply – McGonagall is going to tell everyone more information about it tonight at dinner, but anyway, isn't this brilliant?" she prattled away almost forgetting to breathe.

Hermione found that splendid as well, she always wanted to go to France – and Beauxbatons, she heard only good things about that school, she read it was beautiful there, they had majestic gardens and the chateau was mostly described as breathtaking.

"That's quite delightful. I suppose you are going to apply?" Luna assumed.

"Of course! How about you two?" she sounded still very excited.

Hermione really wanted to apply. France, the chateau, it was like a dream, but she was also head girl and Harry would often be absent already. She couldn't miss two weeks, too, she reckoned.

"I am going to apply as well, maybe I will meet a Veela there." Luna answered dreamy. "How about you Hermione? You love France, don't you?"

"Yes of course, but I am not sure if I am going to apply... I have my head girl duties to do." she frowned.

oOoOo

Draco sat at his desk, he waited for everybody to leave the dormitory and eat breakfast so he was alone and could read the letter.

Some minutes after the last person left, Draco unfolded the letter he had hidden under his pillow and flattened it out.

_Dear Draco,_

_It's me, Pansy. I know it is dangerous to send you this letter, but you have to know it is like hell here in Azkaban...  
Even though it has been summer since I've been imprisoned, I am freezing._

_The wind is cold up here and the food they give you, it is sickening, they let you feel like you are worth nothing,  
you feel less valuable than a Mudblood._

_It was complicated to send you this letter. As you might know Daphne had it first, she's working for the Ministry now and found a way. But keep this a secret, Draco. No one is allowed to know about this or we will all be in great danger.  
Please help me, help me get out of this horrible place... I know your family has an influence on the Ministry.  
Maybe bring me to trial and testify that I was forced into being a Death Eater or something?  
Please Draco, think about it._

_You can write me back, just give your letter to Daphne. But don't sign it with your name, just in case._

_Love, P. Parkinson_

Draco gulped. Was it that horrible in Azkaban? He thought about his father. Lucius was probably insane already, like his aunt.

He knew Azkaban wasn't a pleasant place, but he never really imagined how it would be there. He snorted. If Pansy was already this insane to contact him, his father definitely lost his mind by now. He, who had had a spoiled life.

Draco didn't know if he wanted to write back, to risk his freedom for her. He liked Pansy, but not this much. And the influence they had _had _on the ministry all vanished when Lucius had been sent to Azkaban. He shook his head. There was nothing he could do for her. Yet, he didn't feel much sympathy for her either, she had been most of the times a bitch and had been annoyingly clingy and he knew she wanted to snog with him just because of his name.

Speaking of 'snogging', Granger came to his mind. Her threat, he thought she was only bluffing and didn't have the guts, but she was a Gryffindor and Gryffindors mostly _did_ have the guts, especially Granger.

But what if he would destroy the letter. There'd be no evidence, he thought. And sure, they would question Daphne and him, but he could trust Greengrass...

Although, he could not trust Astoria. He had only just met the girl and she didn't even know what this was all about, she sure would say something about it since she was thinking it was only a casual letter.

Even if they found out he communicated with Pansy, would he really be sent to Azkaban for it?

He was in a dilemma, because he didn't want to kiss Granger at all, that filthy Mudblood. Yet, he didn't want to risk going to Azkaban or being expelled from Hogwarts.

Suddenly somebody came in. Draco almost fell off the chair, he forgot the time as he had been lost in his thoughts.  
Quickly he hid the letter and changed for class.

.

_Finally,_ Hermione thought. Her Potions class just ended. She was glad to still have Professor Slughorn as teacher, he wasn't strict at all and never noticed her silly mistakes she made while brewing. But she actually prefered Arithmancy over Potions right now. It had been just awfully awkward, sitting beside Ron for an hour and cooperating with him.

"You coming, Mione?" Ron had a forced smile on his face. Hermione only nodded and followed up behind him.

But as they left the classroom to go eat lunch, she was pulled away by somebody. She was horrified and wanted to scream, but the person had his hand over her mouth and Ron kept walking, he didn't notice that she was gone.

"Calm down, Granger." she recognized Malfoy's voice. _Oh no, time to face him._

She turned around as he let her go, watching him wiping off his hands on his robe as if she was sick.

Hermione felt her cheeks getting warm, she was embarrassed to face him. Still, she put on a stern expression.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked acting confident.

He opened his mouth, paused, but then sighed.

"Alright Granger, I'll do it." he grumbled.

Hermione lost her words and was confused as hell.

Did Malfoy just agree to her idea she deeply regretted suggesting?

She wanted to pinch herself to find out if this was a dream, but she didn't, this situation was weird enough. She just wanted to tell him he should forget about what she had said to him yesterday and now this.

She looked into Malfoy's grey eyes, getting more nervous about this, because she just realized what was going to happen. Malfoy agreed to teach her how to kiss. This meant, he was going to kiss her, constantly, for hours, during several meetings... _What the actual fuck!_

She tried to stay calm by appearance. Malfoy surely thought she was still convinced by her idea.

Hermione searched for words and finally muttered, "Great... So, we will start after classes... today... come over to my common room, 'kay?"

She gulped. Maybe he was joking with her. Then she would want to be swallowed by the earth.

But Malfoy's expression was very serious. "Deal, but be sure no one will know about our_ meeting,_" he hissed and walked away.

Hermione took a deep breath – this was too much for her... And for her head, it was as hot as a radiator and surely very red, too.

But this was a good thing, she told to herself. She would be able to become better in kissing. She knew she could learn a lot from Malfoy, it might sound odd, but he was known to be a good kisser.

* * *

A/N:  
Le chapitre ended! Tell me what you think about it please, write a review et cetera :) Hope you enjoyed it!

The next chapter is called: Professor, hohohoho! (without the hohoho) (updated version, lots of love goes to my beta reader ChaoticNacho (wp))


	4. 4 Professor

**A/N:**

Thanks everybody for the reviews, favorites and follows, it makes me very happy! And sorry that it took me so long to update, I will update quicker now, promise! Anyway, enjoy this chapter and thanks for reading!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Professor**

.

The time after Draco had told Hermione about his decision wasn't pleasant at all.

He kept regretting what he did, then he talked himself into thinking that this was the 'right' thing to do, that he didn't want to be dropped out of Hogwarts because of his mother. Then Draco's thoughts changed their direction again saying it was ridiculous and gross.

This process went on and on. Blaise already became suspicious at lunch. Draco poked around in his food with his fork, constantly giving Granger glances. Later, Blaise commented Luna's hair, talking about how smooth it looked like and Draco didn't react at all – his only response was,

"Huh? Um... yeah..." before he drifted back into his worries. But as Blaise knew, he didn't want to share what was on his mind. That didn't keep him from asking. Asking every fifteen minutes what worried him, if somebody hexed him and if somebody blackmailed him – Draco snorted only now and then.

The same happened in Transfiguration, their last class that day. Draco was feeling unwell thinking about the fact that he would be in Granger's dorm alone. _Wait,_ Granger's dorm was also Potter's dorm. He got nervous and was searching for Potter with his eyes. But beside Granger was the Weaselette and the Weasel, no Potter. Maybe he was sick, maybe he was at the Hospital Wing or maybe he had some hero mission to do as always which usually annoyed Draco dearly, but this time he hoped for it. And he hoped that the muddy girl thought this through. Well, she had a brain, Draco started to admit it to himself after the first years being a classmate of hers. So, he hoped he could trust her – or better, her brain. _Trust_, Draco snorted while thinking about that word, how ironic.

Suddenly he realized that people were walking out of class, it had ended, yet it felt like it had started just some minutes ago. He also saw Granger walking out fast, hugging her books tightly and staring at the floor. _She is nervous_, Draco thought as he read her and smirked, but his smirk faded directly again, he had a weird feeling lingering in his stomach. It was indeed a sign of him being nervous as well, but he was in denial.

"You comin', mate?" Blaise was standing beside Draco's seat and waited for him to stand up, everyone were gone by now. He wrinkled his brow, usually Draco had a very keen mind, but today and yesterday he seemed off.

Draco nodded and got up. He decided to go to the dungeons first, the halls were too crowded to go directly to the head girl's dorm, nobody should see him entering Granger's common room. And he didn't want to carry his satchel around all the time. His plan was telling Blaise he would go to the library and to make his way up to the head girl's, the corridors should be empty by then since the way to the dungeons and back was quite long.

oOoOo

Hermione arrived in her common room, threw her bag at the floor and sat down on her armchair furiously. _What have I done? _

The whole time she couldn't have concentrated at class and she hadn't listened to her friends' rants at lunch, but it hadn't been because of Ronald, which would normally be a good sign. Unfortunately it was not 'normally', because she was constantly thinking about _Malfoy_ and that was the opposite of a good sign.

Hermione was feeling nervous. She looked at her hands, they were trembling. And her gut, it felt awfully weird as if everything was turning around in it. _What is this situation even, what have I done?_ she thought to herself, _is this a joke?_ She wasn't buying it, she just couldn't. Since Draco had told her about his agreement, she was in disbelief, yet something in her head was telling her repeatedly that he meant it. Or maybe it had also been his glares and glances all day long. Her mind was roiling.

She stood up as quickly as she had sat down and walked to her bathroom. She opened the water tap, drank a few sips and closed it again, feeling the cold water running through her chest into her stomach. It calmed her and her nervousness cooled off. But her mind didn't, Hermione still thought about what would happen in the next minutes and tried to figure out how she'd approach it. And although the thought of Draco teaching her how to kiss disturbed her, she was also glad, it surely would help her with Ron since Draco's nickname among the girls were 'kiss god' or 'hotlips'. Hermione always found those ridiculous and preferred calling him a ferret or a git, nevertheless she thought her _activities _with him would be worth it when –, _if_ it would help her relationship.

She threw herself into her armchair again and spent ten minutes waiting for Draco. While minutes and moments passed she felt her nerves tingling and itching stronger and stronger, until she was even more flustered than before.

Suddenly a knocking sound came from her door and she felt her heart staying still for a second. Slowly Hermione walked to the door and the nearer she was the faster her heartbeat. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and opened the door with her trembling hands while squeezing her eyes together. As she opened them they met with grey, cold eyes and she found Draco leaning against the doorframe.

"Granger," he greeted her, a hint of repulsion in his voice.

"Malfoy," Hermione nodded back. She felt his eyes scanning her as she spoke.

"Come in," she walked to her sofas slowly. Draco hesitated for a moment, but stepped in and followed her. They both felt a strong tension which was not able to neglect.

Hermione sat down, turning her body towards Draco. He was standing beside her, gave the sofa a glare of disgust. Nevertheless he decided to take a seat and stroke over his trousers.

Both avoided each other's look and created an awkward silence. Hermione was afraid that he would hear her heart beats as they got heavier and faster with every second passing. Draco however was still questioning in his head what the actual fuck he was doing here.

Hermione cleared her throat and decided to break the silence. "So... how will we start?" she stammered.

Draco put up his usual smirk and stared directly into her warm autumn eyes, which gave her a shiver through her whole body. His eyes were as cold as ice, yet they seemed very empty.

"First I have to know why you want me to teach you how to _kiss,_ Granger." he answered her, his tone confident and calm as always.

"Well, that's none of your business!" Hermione snapped. She crossed her arms, trying to appear confident as well, although she wasn't at all and she knew Draco could read her.

He made himself comfortable and relaxed into the sofa.

"Of course it is, now spit it out." he smirked.

Hermione rolled her eyes, she was definitely not telling _him_ about her relationship problems, especially when he didn't tell anyone about it, not even Harry.

Draco glanced at the table and found _New Theory of Numerology 3rd edition,_ he was very interested in Arithmancy, he actually had read the first edition, but never heard about the third one. He picked it up and studied it, still waiting for her to tell him her reasons. Hermione stayed silent, but watched him carefully, afraid he might mistreat it.

Draco looked at her, noticing her glare. "So I guess this is yours, not Potter's." he observed.

"Obviously" Hermione answered shortly, with a stern tone.

"Alright, let's make a second deal. You don't have to tell me your reasons, if you'll borrow me this book." he then added, giving up on finding out her secrets.

"Why would you want to read it?" Hermione almost laughed, something was wrong with him, first he agreed to her weird idea and now he was eager to read her Arithmancy book with which she only received glares and rolled eyes when she carried it around or read it on her way to Hogwarts.

"Granger, you aren't the only one interested in books." Draco snorted while flicking carefully through the book, his eyes were alive, examining the pages with enthusiasm. Normally Hermione didn't allow other people to borrow her books, Ron wasn't even allowed to touch them, though that rather happened seldom if ever. And she was fascinated with the fact that Draco Malfoy was interested in her book about Arithmancy, especially because the third edition was quite difficult.

"Whatever, but be careful with it, or I will hex you", she agreed with his so called deal since she was curious how much he would understand what was written in it.

With a flicker in his eyes, he put the book back on the table beside them.

"Anyway, aren't you supposed to live with Potter here?" he then continued. Hermione was starting to think he avoided the topic for what he actually came, but his question was sort of reasonable.

"He is helping the Ministry with some post-war missions." she answered quickly.

The topic war was quite awkward since both of them fought for the other side and Draco was a Death Eater. Yet Hermione always tried to believe that he had been forced into it because of Snape who had convinced Professor McGonagall to take care of him. Harry did believe it since he had observed him in the sixth year and quoting him Draco had looked „lost and broken". Also, after the war Harry had been biased of Snape since he had learned the truth about him. Hermione however was still affected of all the hate and the bullying she had got from Draco. But he hadn't been a big discussion among her friends, they all didn't change their minds about him being a git.

Draco only snorted, of course Potter was doing some hero acts once again. But he started to not care anymore, he didn't understand why he had ever cared about what Potter had been doing.

After another round of silence they knew they couldn't procrastinate any further and Draco didn't want to waste more time than necessary with her. So he decided to do something against it this time.

"Close your eyes, Granger." his voice was calm and deep and sent a shiver through Hermione's body.

"What? Why should I close my eyes?" she objected frantically.

"I have to kiss you," his answer was blunt, but true.

And Hermione found herself getting nervous all over again. This was it, she was going to kiss Draco Malfoy, it hit her as she looked at his serious expression, his jaw was tightened; his features were sharp yet his skin looked smooth. And only now she realized that this was really going to happen. Hermione hesitated, but didn't want to feel his glare anymore and closed her eyes slowly.

Draco watched her carefully, he wasn't ready to kiss her. He looked at her closed eyes, her lashes were naturally long and perfectly curled. She didn't wear any make up, but Draco didn't mind at all, he had enough of those cake faced girls. His eyes wandered down to her strawberry pink lips. They seemed soft and silky.

Draco felt a tingle in his stomach the longer he looked at them, he started to feel drawn to them. He placed his hand gently on her nape and saw her cringe by his touch.

Hermione's heart beat faster even though she thought it wasn't possible. His hand was cold and rough. She felt him getting closer to her face gradually as she acknowledged his presence more and more, until she felt his warm and humid breath on her skin, stealing her oxygen in front of her and making her breath heavier than before.

Draco still looked at her lips, they indeed looked soft. And her breath smelled sweet like honey. He gulped, he was going to kiss _Granger_. He looked back to her closed eyes, her eyelashes appeared even longer and thicker being this near to her. He took a deep breath and after another one he closed his eyes with hesitation.

_Salazar forgive me,_ he thought and pulled her tenderly to his face and brushed his lips over hers.

Hermione's heart stopped beating as she felt his rough, warm lips. They had a manly musk, and his scent, he smelled clean and fresh like mint. She leaned into the kiss, Draco's grip on her nape loosened as she kissed him back and placed her hand on his thoroughly fit shoulder. And he was right, her lips were very much soft, and smooth. They tasted sweet and reminded him of the honey-flavored milk he had drunk on snowy winter mornings as child at the manor. The feeling made him soft, it ached almost in his heart, yet he felt his body wanting for more, he felt the blood stream faster through his veins.

He licked her upper lip to taste more of the winter mornings, then Draco slid his tongue into her slightly opened mouth, searching for her tongue. Hermione felt as if she was floating as she felt his tongue slowly playing with hers, as if she was high on euphoria elixir. Her hormones rushed through her body with double speed. Draco Malfoy's kisses were breathtaking. They were soft, yet manly and his tongue gave her an insane feeling all over her body. The kiss was sensual and intimate, letting both of them feel a fragment of disclosure.

It lasted long until Draco gently pulled his tongue away and ended the kiss although he rather enjoyed it. He had kissed a lot of girls, but Hermione was an entire new wave of feelings.

He removed his hand that had rested in the meantime on the back of her head as she removed hers from his shoulder and slowly let some distance come between their faces. Hermione's breath was irregular, she was still stupefied from the kiss. She watched Draco wiping away the saliva from his lips with his sleeve. Hermione bit on her lip, they now tasted like Draco's.

He was quite handsome, of course he was and she always knew it, but being so close to him let her realize it. He ran his fingers through his platinum blond hair to comb the few strands back that had fallen loose. Draco seemed very attractive when he wasn't smirking or when he didn't curl his lip. He also had a strong jawline which she had loved about Viktor Krum, sadly Ronald didn't have a visible one.

And Draco's eyes were as grey and expressive as the clouds of thunderstorms, yet they could be the most dull and empty eyes she had ever seen – and suddenly they met hers and she almost jumped. Hermione had been staring at Draco openly, she felt her blood rush up to her cheeks, making her blush out of embarrassment.

"So... How was it?" she blurted quickly, turning her look to the table.

"Like expected: Lousy. You have a lot to learn from me." Draco teased and put on his usual smirk on his lips. But secretly, he liked the kiss, her lips were soft and her taste was addicting and although her tongue's touches were humble and timid, he found himself liking it. But of course he had to lie, he would never admit that Draco Malfoy was physically drawn to her – well, actually not to her, but to her lips.

"Oh, right... I see." Hermione felt a slight disappointment, but she had reckoned it. Still, her voice grew heavy.  
"So, what should I do differently?", she added.

Draco studied her lips with knitted brows as she spoke, figuring out what to answer her.

"Firstly, stop being so stiff. Try to move your hands and don't just lay them on my shoulders. And try to experiment more, but let the man lead the kiss sometimes, being bossy doesn't turn most men on... Yeah, that'll be enough for the beginning." He finished with a cocky voice.

But Hermione didn't mind his tone. All the more she was sitting there, with a straight back and her typical concentrated look on her face slightly wrinkling her brow as if it was a real lesson and Draco was a real professor. She didn't take criticism well over all, but she was always eager to learn something new, even if it was 'just' kissing.

"I understand," she stated seriously, "let's try again."

Draco's veins were on fire after she said that. He hadn't known how serious she was, but now he did and he knew this was all drastically wrong, but he was rather enjoying this. He smirked and looked deeply into Hermione's warm and innocent eyes. Then he put his hands around her petite waist.

She felt her heart beat faster again, trying to remind herself that there was nothing to be nervous about, that this boy – man in front of her was the slimy git. _The slimy git with irresistible lips_, she thought as her eyes wandered to his mouth. Hermione put her hands on his muscular built shoulders. Draco pulled her whole body close to his and she got conscious of how strong his arms and hands were and it frightened her as much as it gave her this unexpected shudder of excitement.

And faster than she could say Quidditch, his lips were already on hers, kissing them roughly. Draco licked her upper lip and jammed his tongue into her mouth. Her hands were moving up to his head, digging her fingers into his hair while his hands wandered lower and lower.

They were smooching, their kisses went from gentle to furious and both of them forgot who the other person actually was. She tried to concentrate on her kisses and tried to keep her head clear so she could improve her techniques, but lost it when Draco nibbled her under lip, making her almost melt.

Draco however couldn't satisfy himself, he wanted to taste more of her honey-flavored lips, obliterating that _she_ should kiss _him_ and that he should feel repulsed. But he hadn't enjoyed kissing a girl for a long time, the whole summer he couldn't have enjoyed himself and before that he had been too concerned with his death eater missions and with getting the mark, so for almost two years he hadn't got to enjoy the presence, the kisses and touches of a girl. And now he was driven by lust.

Their movements slowed down after a moment and their kisses became tender again, eventually turned into pecks before they completely stopped touching each other's lips. Their faces were still close, Hermione could feel his humid, deep breaths on her skin.

"Not bad." Draco smirked and leaned back into the sofa, sending her chills up her spine as the warmth of his body left her.

"Good" she replied with a blunt but satisfied voice, trying the best to hide her joy that she already made some improvements in the first 'lesson'.

He wiped his lips again with his sleeve and looked up at the clock, Hermione followed his eyes.

"Almost six o'clock?!" Hermione squealed, surprised. The time went by so fast, she thought that only fifteen minutes had passed, but in reality it was already dinnertime. And she wasn't the slightest bit hungry.

After a last round of silence, Draco cleared his throat.

"Yeah... well then, I'll go now." Draco stood up and grabbed the book he had looked at.

Hermione slowly got up, too and straightened her pleated skirt with her hands. With wary steps they walked to the door and before bidding a rather awkward farewell as Draco turned back being arrogant and his usual self, they took a glance through the corridor to be sure no one would see him leaving the head's room.

Hermione closed the door behind her and took a deep breath, trying to digest what had just happened, but the room was still filled with his manly scent. She threw herself into the sofa, cuddling its pillows and felt the heat that remained from their bodies. And as quickly as he had kissed her she was lost in her thoughts.

She thought about Draco, trying to figure out what just happened, _Draco Malfoy_ tutoring her in _kissing_. And she thought about Ron, the reason of all this happening, how dearly she loved him to put herself through chaotic stuff like this. Yet she didn't want to see him right now – or the others. She felt too fatigued and had enough to digest right now, she didn't want to feel Ron's cold shoulder at the moment—she had enough things to worry about.

So she decided to stay in her common room.

And as she closed her eyes she gradually fell asleep while inhaling his residual scent.

* * *

A/N: Please tell me what you think about this chapter! Every review makes me smile! Hope you enjoyed reading, next chapter is called "Returning"!

My thanks and lots of love goes to Anna, my beta reader! She's amazing!


	5. 5 Returning

**Chapter 5: Returning**

**.**

Draco walked with fast steps and the book in his hands to the Great Hall, but after he was about to pass a restroom he decided to make a stop there first. He entered the humid air and found the place empty, everyone were headed to the Great Hall. He put the book beside the sink and turned the tap open furiously. He let the cool water run in his mouth and through his throat, he had the urge to get rid of a feeling, perhaps the feeling having Granger's saliva in his mouth or the remained warmth that her tongue's touch left him, maybe this magnetism he felt for her lips. He looked at himself in the mirror after he had straightened up and saw his swollen lips.

Draco wanted to feel them and placed a hand on his blood filled lips, but a scent streamed through his nostrils. The indescribable scent of Granger, fuzzy and mildly sweet with a hint of old books and library. It was his hands, they smelled like her. He moved both hands closer to his nose with a curious expression in his face and inhaled again. Yes, definitely his hands. Quickly he held them under the still running water and rubbed his hands, again he didn't know why he became so hectic. Back in her common room he had been very comfortable touching her body and her lips, her hair, too. But that had seemed rather like a dream and being on the corridors and loos of Hogwarts hit him back to reality. But the question should rather be why he had been comfortable with her and why it had felt like a dream and not like a nightmare.

He closed the tap and conjured his hands dry with wandless magic. Then he ran his fingers through his hair to put them back in place, grabbed the book and continued his way to dinner. He was realizing more and more what just had happened: He had just given Hermione Granger kissing lessons and he couldn't lie to himself – he had been _slightly _enjoying it._ But of course I am,_ he thought, snorting to himself. It was logical, he was a male and she a female, he hadn't been snogging with anyone for a long time, so it was just a natural process in his body liking it.

Finally he smelled food, it replaced the scent of Granger that had still been stuck in his nose. There were two three other pupils who were also walking in to the Great Hall. It was filled with many people, the teachers were eating, Slughorn and Beaublanc, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, were debating enthusiastically and Professor McGonagall was watching the crowd carefully.

His eyes wandered to the Slytherin table as he walked towards it and saw his tall, dark skinned friend grinning at him.

"Had fun in the library?" Blaise asked as a greeting when Draco took a seat beside him.

"Like always," he lied and put some food on his plate and shoved it directly into his mouth, he wanted to get rid of every taste that was left from Granger in his mouth.

"So what's this?" his mate's curiosity caught him and picked up the book Draco borrowed while munching the food.

"Don't make it dirty or Madam Pince will ban me from the library," he reacted directly followed by questioning himself why he just did that.

Blaise just looked surprised but answered with a "whatever" and laid the book back beside his friend, slowly he was getting used of his weird acts.

"So what were _you_ doing?" Draco changed the topic.

"Ah you know, hangin' around in the common room and at the lake," he began casually. "Some Ravenclaws were also outside and Potter's girlfriend, too," he shrugged.

Draco frowned, the Weaselette so. He didn't think highly about her and her friends and Blaise thought the same, he always called them 'blood traitors' even though there had been something between him and the red head.

"So you're going full on that unity plan of McGonagall?" he scoffed, though he didn't really care what Blaise was doing or if his opinion changed after the war, though he found it slightly ridiculous.

"No, of course not," he snorted and shoved a loaded spoon in his mouth, "I'm just trying to be not futile rude."

Draco snapped back a "whatever" and continued eating his meal. This didn't bother him right now, he had other things to sort out in his life.

oOoOo

The first thing that she perceived was the taste in her mouth. Her tongue was as dry as sandpaper and her teeth felt rough and dirty. Then she got conscious of her back pain, the position she had was uncomfortable and made her feel as if she had been punched.

Hermione blinked two three times and realized she had fallen asleep on the sofa. How she hated this feeling, she felt gross when she didn't brush her teeth or washed her face the night before. She sat up and wrapped her arms around her legs while her gaze wandered to the window. It was a nice autumn Friday morning, the sun rose which made the sky have multiple pink and orange shades and let her know that it was still early in the morning. From the window you could also see the lake, which glittered beautifully as the water reflected the rising light.

After taking a breath she sniffed quickly again. This awfully comforting scent hit her nose. It smelled neat and fresh, and kind of manly... She jumped when she remembered from who it came: Draco Malfoy. She got up and smelled her hands, they smelled like him. With stressed and fast steps she walked to her bathroom and washed them using loads of soap, even though the magical soap is very strong. _'Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, what happened?' _she thought while drying her hands with a wandless spell. Hermione still couldn't believe what she had done yesterday, everything was like an odd dream for her, the whole stuff with her and Malfoy. But she hoped that this whole school year would be a dream, a nightmare and that she would wake up and her life would be perfect – no, normal again.

She still smelled his scent and she didn't want to be consistently reminded of him, it hassled her a lot. She tried to find where it came from and directly smelled her clothes, then her hair. Everything smelled like Draco Malfoy, _she_ smelled like Draco Malfoy, or maybe she was just being paranoid.

She hopped into the shower after tearing her clothes away from her body and made sure she washed herself completely.

While showering, she fell into thoughts. She wondered what Harry did, how Ginny was since she didn't get to see her much lately, because of the matters with Ron - and she thought about Ron. But mostly she thought about Malfoy and about yesterday. Hermione started to realize what she – they had done and what they would do, that they would continue these _private lessons. _But secretly, deep down in her, she was kind of glad about it, since it did distract her quite often and then she couldn't find much time to think and worry about Ron which she still did regularly, nothing could really keep her mind away from him, not even books nor studying, but Malfoy could. And of course this would be also a solution to her problems.

Hermione stepped out of the shower, casting a drying spell and put on fresh clothes-and a new robe. After she put the_ 'magical siren hair taming serum for curly witches' _on her hair she left her room and headed to the Great Hall which she found quite empty since it was only half past six. There were some professors having their breakfast already and three seventh year Ravenclaws who got up that early to practice some Quidditch before class started.

She picked up some toast from the serving plate in front of her and put pumpkin spread on it. The toast was warm, she loved that it wouldn't get cold, but that it was never too hot – she would never get used to charmed food.

After eating, Hermione used the time to go to the library and after that she had Defense Against the Dark Arts. The new professor Beaublanc was tall and had a fair face with coal black hair. He was young and French, rumors told he was a former student from Beauxbatons and had graduated some years ago.

"Hermione! Where were you last evening?" her red haired friend inquired directly after she took a seat beside her.

"I fell asleep, sorry Ginny." Hermione apologized since she knew that Ginny wanted to talk with her about the exchange project. Ginny gave her a confused expression, she noticed her unusual chaos and the typical Hermione wouldn't pass dinner because _she fell asleep_. But before she could comment, Hermione started to talk.

"So where's Ron?" She tried to sound as casual as possible and not too curious, because she had no plan what her boyfriend was up to lately. She didn't want Ginny to know about her problems – yet. Everyone, especially the Weasley family had been so excited to hear that they finally had got together, they had told it was 'meant to be' et cetera and they surely would be disappointed and concerned for no reason, because the crisis in her relationship would be vanished as if they never had had it.

"He is actually skipping first period." Ginny sighed.

"Skipping?" Hermione was surprised and frowned. She knew Ron didn't like school that much, but he had seemed so motivated when they had got the letter.

"Yeah, actually some eight year students are skipping a lot." Ginny shrugged.

Hermione wanted to ask more things about Ron, but Professor Beaublanc started the lecture with his slight French accent.

oOoOo

Hermione entered the Room of Runes with a full belly. At lunch, Ginny had told her that she had applied for the Beauxbatons exchange project with Luna. She had sounded so excited and had talked about that school during the whole break. Hermione would've been excited too, but she decided it was best if she didn't apply, she had too many things going on in her life to step out of it.

Suddenly a blond headed guy sat down in the row in front of her.

_'Malfoy'_.

He turned around to look at her. He was biting into a bilious green apple and licked his lips that were dripping with juice, it made her look at the lips that had kissed her yesterday, and the tongue that had touched hers yesterday. His lips were seductive, they were rough but soft and she had thought that Draco could never be in any way gentle, but his considerate and tame kisses proved her wrong. They were almost magical, the thought was ridiculous since they were witch and wizard.

"Staring, Granger?", Draco sneered. Hermione jumped when she realized that she was openly staring at him once again.

"Yes, never seen such a git like you, Malfoy," she replied sharply, but it only made Draco smirk.

"The git that you kissed," he teased and bit in his apple. Hermione felt her cheeks getting red.

_'Why did he have to mention it?!' _She still felt embarrassed, not (only) because they had kissed, but because she had asked him, Malfoy, to tutor her. She ignored him and looked down to her opened "Advanced Rune Translation" book and tried to hide her face that was beet red. But Draco didn't turn around, he found it quite amusing to watch her being embarrassed. And that he could make her be embarrassed.

"So when are you planning on needing your handsome professor again?" he uttered after some moments. Hermione almost jumped, she couldn't believe he asked her when they should meet again. She lifted her head to look at him with a surprised glare, but he looked serious as hell. Even though in his mind he didn't understand why he just asked her that. Maybe because he was bored and had nothing to do, he didn't question his actions any further, it made him uncomfortable with himself.

"You are one arrogant prick, you know that?" Hermione hissed, she hated that side of him the most. He was too confident and sure of himself it disgusted her. But anyway, she wanted to be tutored by him, especially after yesterday when she found out how high his kissing skills were.

Draco just opened his mouth to insult her back, but she cut him off.

"Do you still have classes after Ancient Runes?" They had a double lesson of Ancient Runes and depending on what for subjects one picked one had classes until five o'clock.

"Do you think I picked Muggle studies?" He snorted and Hermione thought that he had almost felt insulted by her question. But she just rolled her eyes. She didn't know how much Malfoy still hated muggles and muggle-borns after the war and what his opinion was, though she had the feeling his perspective changed since he indeed had kissed her and before he had not even wanted to touch her.

"So that's a no. Come to my common room after the lesson, then." She said quickly, trying to sound as confident as possible. But she felt really weird and stupid saying that to Malfoy. She looked again in her schoolbook to avoid his eyes and his gaze. For a moment Draco continued to watch her, but then he turned back.

oOoOo

After Ancient Runes Draco waited until Granger left the classroom – he didn't really have to _wait_, she was the first one who left. He walked to the library to spend some time until the corridors were empty, it was already enough that some had seen him talking to her before the lesson had started, he didn't want people to assume something. After choosing some potions book to borrow, in which he had been rather interested in for some time, he stuffed it into his satchel and headed with a frown to the head's common the way he kept questioning what he was doing here and he assumed Granger wouldn't grass him to McGonagall, he wasn't though sure and didn't want to risk it. Also, this_ deal_ surprisingly didn't bother him as much as he had expected.

About Pansy, he had messaged Daphne that he wanted to meet her in Hogsmeade. He wanted to discuss the letter with her, she was after all the one who got it from Pansy and gave it to him through Astoria.

Finally he stood in front of the head's door – it was big and tall double door made of marble with some majestic carving in it. Draco found it ridiculously over exaggerated for just the head girl and head boy. He knocked and the door opened immediately.

"You're here." Hermione stated, she looked kind of stressed, but relieved as well. As she turned around and walked to the sofas, her chocolate brown curls bounced softly. He hesitated, but stepped in wiping his hair back with his fingers.

"You... want something to drink?" Hermione asked hesitantly. She wanted to be at least polite, she didn't understand why he did this. Her threat – did he take it seriously? She thought he wouldn't come and somehow she shouldn't be a bitch to him, he was helping her with her relationship. Unknowing and not really willing, but still.

"Thanks," he shook his head and took a seat beside her. He looked at her lips and gulped – he remembered the taste of them. Those lips made him almost lose his control, they were awfully sweet and the longer he watched them the more he wanted to lick them and taste them.

"Staring, Malfoy?", Hermione imitated him and cut him off his thoughts. '_What the fuck did you just think, Draco'_, he thought he was getting insane. He ignored her well-played comment and wanted to start with tutoring directly, he had Quidditch practice afterwards and wanted to taste those li- no he wanted to get it over with.

"So, show Professor Malfoy what you have learned yesterday." he smirked.  
Hermione's cheeks got warmer once again and she asked herself why she always blushed when he said something stupid. Maybe because it made her uncomfortable.

"Don't call yourself Profess-", she complained, but Draco pressed a finger on her lips, giving her a sign to stop talking and kiss him and it made her heart skip. The touch was like a flash of lightning going through her whole body. And as he removed his finger again, her lips turned cold, missing the heat of it.

She gulped and looked into his grey, shimmering eyes, then down to his lips. She felt awkward and there was this tension in the air, but she knew it would all vanish when she started to kiss him.

Slowly she moved closer to him and suddenly felt his hands around her waist, it made her jump as she felt the electricity, the lightning rush through her body again.

"Relax, Granger." he said with a calm, deep voice that gave her goosebumps, but cooled her down.

Then she leaned over to his face, breathing his used air in that he had exhaled and felt the warmth of his body. She closed her eyes and softly pressed her lips to his.

And his lips were rough and gentle like she remembered them, but today they tasted more like apples and his scent, it was comfortable and manly like the one she woke up to. She placed her hands around his neck as he kissed her back and licked her lower lip. He almost groaned as he tasted her and he admitted for a second that he loved them, he loved her lips, and he was crazy about them since he had tasted them for the first time. Hermione brushed her tongue against his, which allowed him to insert his tongue into her mouth.

Her heartbeat sped up and she had the feeling of floating again. Draco pulled her closer to him which made her squeak and deepened the kiss. He wanted more, he wanted to taste more. He wasn't satisfied with delicate kisses. He felt his blood boil and it wouldn't stop. Hermione felt his kisses turning wild and she felt her body response to it, everything in her tickled as if she was on drugs. And the tickle became stronger as the kisses got wilder. She felt alive and seemed to float high above the ground, as high as a dragon could fly.

But her body fell back on the ground when Draco broke the kiss and parted their lips. He removed his hands around her, Hermione quickly reacted and put her hands away from him. Draco had realized that he shouldn't just snog with her, she should learn something and _he _should learn to control himself. He wiped his lips with his sleeve and cleared his throat.

"Not bad," he said shortly with a husky voice. Hermione felt her lips pulsate, but managed to put a smile on them.

"Really?" she asked rather happily. She couldn't tell more, she still felt the flash of their kisses.

"Yeah. But Granger, I can't help you when I don't know what your problem is." Draco's voice was cool and serious.

Hermione was surprised hearing the word 'help' from him while talking to her. She blushed slightly thinking about her _problem. _She couldn't tell that to him, no, it was too embarrassing. And he was Malfoy! But she looked at his face, he looked so sincere. And handsome. His skin was fair and seemed to be so soft. And his eyes were suddenly pure and genuine. But she didn't even tell Harry or Ginny about it.

"Come on, you cannot make any progress when I don't know in what I have to tutor you", he said after he noticed her hesitation.

'_Yes, he is right. I need to make some progress. And that's the only way.'_, she thought and decided to tell him.

She let out a sigh and started to explain: "As you may know, Ron and I are together now," her voice was trembling slightly and her heartbeats were heavy, although she wasn't sure if it was because of this or if it was the effect of the kisses they had shared. "And we wanted to have our first time on the evening we returned to Hogwarts..." she almost teared up. This was too messed up for her, the whole thing with Ron that she didn't understand a bit and now she was telling it to Malfoy.

"He came over and we tried it, but we couldn't do it, it didn't work. I don't know why he got hard enough times back at the burrow, but then he – I don't know—he told it was because I kissed _weirdly, _and since then he kept avoiding me and—" she blurted, sounding despaired.

"Okay, calm down Granger." Draco tried to cool her down. At first he had almost burst into laughter, but then he noticed how broken she was because of this. A tear rolled down her cheek as she closed her eyes to ease her conscience, she quickly wiped it away. It ached her heart to speak it out loud, to think about Ron. She didn't realize how much it hurt, she kept hiding and suppressing it.

Suddenly she felt Draco's warm lips on her neck. He slowly and softly kissed her skin.

"Malfoy..." she started, but he interrupted her.

"Sh, Granger" he said between his kisses. "Maybe the Weasel was nervous, you need to calm him down... like this." he told with his low voice, a shiver went up and down her spine.

He gave her soft kisses down her neck, then he kissed her collarbone. Hermione let her eyes closed, her stomach was turning around like crazy. Draco placed one hand on her nape to support him. His intense kisses wandered back up to her neck. She froze completely, she didn't do anything... she just couldn't. The tension, the electricity between them was too strong.

"You have to find", he breathed between his kisses, "his weak point."

His voice was awfully calm, it let her forget all her worries and thoughts, and the only thing that was on her mind was him, Draco Malfoy. And his voice ... and his soft kisses.

He reached her jaw. He brushed teasingly his lips over it, then he nibbled it. Hermione accidentally whimpered, which made her blush briefly. She knew he was smirking, she didn't need to open her eyes for it. After this he removed his lips from her body. Draco didn't do anything and it made her uneasy, but she wasn't ready to open her eyes yet.

Draco watched her closely. Her hair were loose, perfect curls, it was no longer this bush it had once been. Her cheeks were still slightly pink and her lashes were long, he already noticed it yesterday. He had to admit she was pretty and the longer he looked at her the prettier she got. She was pretty when she was like this, silent and not the know-it-all Granger, not the muggle-born, not the best friend of Potter nor the girlfriend of Weasley. Just a girl he kissed.  
After some moments, she was about to tell something and wanted to open her eyes, until she felt Draco's warm and humid breath on her face and she knew his face was very close to hers. She closed her mouth again, the tension grew.

"Then, you have to kiss him like this." he whispered and pressed his lips on hers. And he kissed her passionately. Hermione opened her mouth and let him search her tongue. Hermione thought she was going to melt. His kisses were magical, but he kissed differently now, she felt the enthusiasm. And it gave her goosebumps everywhere.

Draco wanted to control himself, but he couldn't. He couldn't get enough of her lips. He pushed her with his kisses, so she let herself fall on the sofa. Hermione's heart had never beat this fast. She was lying on the sofa with Draco leaning down to her. This was crazy and so wrong, but she did all this for Ron. Yet she couldn't get rid of a feeling. The feeling that was luring in her stomach and made her feel alive and sensitive to every touch.

His kisses got reckless. He wanted to taste everything that was there to taste. He licked her lower lip and bit in it which made Hermione whine silently again. Draco smirked quickly before he sucked it. Then he gave her another kiss and searched for her tongue. Hermione felt drawn to him. She forgot that it was Draco Malfoy who kissed her, at the moment he was only a handsome man with magical lips that kissed her so passionately like no one else did.  
Their kisses softened until they turned into pecks. Draco parted his lips from hers and opened his eyes. He still had his face close to hers. Hermione blinked slowly before opening her eyes fully. They met with his oh so wonderful grey eyes again. Usually when she saw him in the corridors they were dull and dead, but today he had the most alive eyes she had ever seen.

"Did you understand today's lesson?" Draco said with a husky voice under his heavy breath.

Hermione who was breathing heavily, too, just nodded.

Draco got up and stood in front of the couch. Hermione sat up and watched him as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve again.

"I have to go now, Quidditch practice." Draco said shortly as he tried flatten his shirt and trousers.

"Alright." Hermione murmured, she was still overwhelmed by what just happened. He ran his fingers through his platinum blond hair. She knew it was one habit of his.

"See you tomorrow? After lunch?" she blurted and looked down at the floor.

Draco smirked, "Maybe."

His answer made Hermione unsure, but she still forced to look up to him. His lips looked slightly swollen and she knew hers were surely worse.

She walked him to the door. It turned awkward again, because now he was Draco again and she was Hermione. And this whole tutoring thing felt real and foolish. He checked the corridors if no one was around and rushed out. The hellos and goodbyes were always quick and odd. But how else would they be, they weren't friends, they had rather been enemies for the past years, they never liked each other and now they did intimate things with each other. She bit on her lower lip as she watched Draco's body getting smaller down the corridor, regretted it forthwith because it hurt badly. Her lips were sensitive from today's 'lesson'. She sighed and walked back to her room.

oOoOo

Draco entered the Great Hall together with Blaise after having a refreshing shower since both of them had Quidditch practice. The Hall was already filled with lots of students. They sat on the nearest empty place on the bench started to eat immediately—Quidditch always made them hungry to death.

"Do you know what Theo's doin'?" Blaise asked while munching a chicken wing.

"No idea. Family stuff. You about Daphne?" he asked back. Maybe he knew more about what she had done during the summer, they were way closer since they had dated once.

"Um... not really. I only know that she was quite busy. Why you askin'? Because of Astoria?" he grinned.

Draco just snorted, making his mate believe that it was because of her, he shouldn't know about Pansy, or at least not yet. Not like he didn't trust him but one could never know who was listening.

He looked around the Great Hall while Blaise was talking something about quidditch practice and something about a girl he had an eye on. His eyes wandered to the Gryffindor table. There he saw Granger with the two redheads. She didn't talk, she only poked holes in her food. So she really had a problem with the Weaselbee. He didn't understand how _he_ could have such high standards. Granger was okay—he found her quite addic—no he found her okay, okay for the Weasel.

Hermione lifted her head up and found him staring at her. He was surprised, but he didn't look away like she had did. He looked into her eyes across the Great Hall. Hermione was caught in his eyes. It was like a stare competition, she didn't want to look away. Suddenly she began to smile, because she realized this whole thing was just weird what they were doing. Draco's heart skipped, he never saw Granger smile at him. He didn't know how to react, he asked himself why she was smiling at him. Quickly he smirked back. But he enjoyed seeing her smile.

_'Stop. You don't enjoy seeing her smile, fuck this!'_ he then thought.

Their staring competition got interrupted as Hermione heard Ginny calling her name.

"Hermione, who are you smiling at?" she asked and looked curiously around the hall.

"Erm, at nobody, just a classmate of mine from Ancient Runes." she told quickly and turned her head to her friend.

"I see. By the way, what happened to your lips? They look plump, almost swollen." Ginny said as she looked closely at her lips.

Hermione's hands got sweaty and she glanced to Ron, who wasn't even paying attention. She thought her lips were normal again.

"Allergies. I ate something in the afternoon. Had an allergic reaction." she muttered.

Ginny opened her mouth to tell something, but Hermione wanted to change the topic and cut her off.

"So, when's Harry coming?", she enquired and her mate forgot about the pervious topic already.

"Tomorrow around three o'clock! He told they let him go earlier..." and she started to talk nonstop about her boyfriend.

After supper Hermione went with Ginny and Ron to the Gryffindor common room. It wasn't pleasant at all for her, Ron acted weird and wanted to do his potions essay. Ginny insisted that he should do it another time and everything became even more awkward. But luckily Hermione had to patrol the corridors and could leave the common room after a short time.

oOoOo

The next morning went over quite quickly for Draco. He was exhausted from last day's quidditch practice and got up late, then he prepared himself and it was lunchtime already. A white, black dotted owl brought him a letter after he returned back from eating. It was knocking against the window impatiently, the dungeons weren't the favorite places to fly for an owl.

Draco took the letter and gave the owl a snack. Then he laid down on his bed and read it through.

_Draco,  
_

_Nice to hear from you. Yes I'm okay, life returned to normal again after summer. Though it is strange to have friends and many people you know imprisoned in Azkaban now – but who am I to say that._

_So I guess you met Astoria. Sorry for her manners, she is rather blunt._

_I still hope you get along well, she is my sister after all and having a problem with a Malfoy isn't in any way pleasant.  
Anyway, yes let us meet and talk about some topics. Next Saturday at The Three Broomsticks around four o'clock?  
Please give my regards to Astoria and Blaise._

_Love, Daphne_

Draco folded the letter and put it back in its envelope with a sigh. Next week he would get some answers and it was relieving. He had already a date with Astoria though, but that could wait.

Quickly he scribbled a reply on a parchment, saying he agreed with the place and time of their rendezvous. After he sealed the letter with the Malfoy crest, he stood up and walked out of his dorm room and left the dungeons to go to the West Tower. Draco didn't want to walk all the way up just to send this letter, but he had to go up anyway to meet the head girl because of her _problems, _so it wasn't a big deal to make a small excursion to the owlery.

After he tied the letter on Bubo Bubo, he gave him a small snack and watched his owl fly away. Then he headed directly to Granger once again. Draco didn't know why he agreed on seeing her regularly, but he always said to himself the more he tutored her the faster she would learn and he would be dismissed sooner. Today he also promised Blaise to hang out with him, they seemed lonely without their old 'gang', without Theo, Daphne and Pansy. Crabbe and Goyle – he didn't miss them, they were just following him around without having any own thoughts. And of course they had taken the mark without consideration and hesitation as well and had even been proud of it.

Draco found himself where he had stood yesterday and the day before already—he was in front of the generous head's door. He knocked on the marble stone and within some moments the door opened.

"Malfoy." Hermione tried to kick up a fuss but her voice sounded tired. She yawned as Draco walked into the_ strangely _familiar common room.

"Did you seriously have a nap before I came, Granger? You should've been nervous over the fact that _I_ am coming over to you," he sneered. She rolled her eyes and closed the door.

"You arrogant git, you made me wait so long I fell asleep", she mumbled and let herself fall into the couch next to Draco.

"Why are you late anyway?" She looked at him. His hair was styled back as always and he had a black shirt on, something he wore rather often when he wasn't wearing the Hogwarts uniform. The first button was open, which let Hermione see his pale, but flawless skin. His collarbone was visible and matched magnanimously with his fair color.

"None of your business, is it?" he frowned as he leaned back and looked absently at the books that were on the small table in front of them.

"Were you contacting Parkinson? Or something like that?" Hermione ignored his previous statement and continued asking questions with raised eyebrows.

Surprised, he looked at her, but then he only smirked as always.

"Jealous, Granger?" He decided that she shouldn't know more than she already did.

"You wish!" She hissed. They both found it utterly ridiculous. First they treated each other like shit and after they would kiss. Maybe it was the war that had made them insane enough for this.

An awkward silence crept through the room. It didn't seem to bother Draco though. He was staring at a book with an interested mien.

But it bothered the hell out of Hermione, she couldn't look at her own books or look around her common room, could she? She tapped with her hand against her leg, waiting for him to say something. But he kept silent which made her look at him.

His brow was wrinkled while he studied the book and he licked his lips. They had a pinkish tone, it accentuated his face, his silky white skin. His iris was sparkling of its play of grey colors. His eyes were in harmony. Too bad he had an awful character, because everything else on him wasn't awful at all, rather charming.

_'Screw this!' _Hermione thought and moved her face towards his, fast enough that he couldn't react and aimed at his lips. He suddenly noticed her and all she saw was how his eyes widened by surprise before she closed her eyes and pressed her lips on his. Hermione only realised now what she had done, what the tension between them had driven her to do and thought he would push her away in seconds and it would be embarrassing as hell for her.

But surprisingly he put his hands around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Hermione could feel his cold body, while Draco felt the heat of hers.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. He licked her lips, his favorite part of her, and bit softly in her lower lip. It made her heart skip a beat and she showed him how much she liked it as she dug her nails into the nape of his neck.

Draco growled and stuck his tongue into her mouth, searching hers and playing with her tongue. Suddenly he felt an intimate warmth heating up between his legs. He felt his blood rush into his cock.

_'Shit, I have to control myself'. _But her deep kisses and her nails digging almost painfully into his skin made it rather harder for him. So he broke the kiss, feeling the humid breaths of hers on his cheek. Hermione's grip loosened as his did.

"Ambitious, today?" he said between his puffs and slowly gained control over his own body again.

"Sure, I mean, it's already late we don't have all the time in the world," she said in a mischievous tone.  
But then she jumped back, her expression suddenly turned dead serious and her face became white as chalk.

"Fuck, Malfoy! What time is it?!" she began to panic.

Draco didn't understand her sudden mood swings and glanced at the clock above the fireplace.

"Um, it's some minutes past three" he answered and almost sounded worried with it.

"Some minutes past three?!", she repeated with a shaking voice.

"Harry is returning, now!"

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**A/N: **Sorry for updating only now! But here, a 6k+ chapter! Hope you enjoyed it, there were soo many Dramione moments in this.  
Next chapter will have more 'story line' and less moments and will be updated within a week!  
Please review what you liked and disliked and if you want that I will continue writing.

Thanks for reading and following, favoriting, reviewing! It makes me happy! Somebody who also makes me happy is my beta reader Anna or ChaoticNacho on wp! Very glad she corrected this long chapter!


	6. 6 Bedroom

**A/N: I'm sorry for updating only now! I was very busy with school, I was on a language stay in France etc. During this time I have been working on this chapter so it could be a bit weird with a lot of atmosphere swings because I always only wrote for a short time and continued writing another time etc.  
Anyway! Thanks thanks thanks for the reviews and follows, favorites! It makes me so happy to get notifications and read your reviews! Please continue to review my fanfic and I hope you all can forgive me for updating only now. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 6: Bedroom**

**.**

"Harry is returning now!" Hermione panicked.

"Wha—what? Granger! Calm down, what the fuck?" Draco tried to stay cool, but he sounded as hysterical as her.

"Ginny told me he'll return at 3 o'clock, shit! And he's probably on his way already!"

"I—I can't leave now, he'll see me on the corridors." he came to the conclusion angrily, but his voice was worried.

Hermione had her thinking expression on her face. 

"Go into my room." she hated it to let him go into her bedroom, but Harry could walk in every second. 

"Go and hide, now!" Her panic rose. She grabbed Malfoy's wrist and dragged him to her bedroom. She trembled, if Harry would come in now she would be dead.

Normally Draco wouldn't let her drag him somewhere, not to mention let her order him around, but he was too much in a shock mode to rant at her.

She shoved him into her room and gave him a warning glare. Draco could read it, she wanted him to stay quiet. He frowned, he didn't like the idea to be in her bed. Kissing her was already intimate enough, though he had kissed a lot of girls so it wasn't world changing for him to kiss her – maybe that's why he had agreed with her _deal_. But he didn't – he almost never entered a girl's room beside Pansy's. Anyway, maybe it was world changing for him to snog Granger, it should be. And enter her room, because it wasn't just another girl, it was the Gryffindor Princess, Potter's best friend and not to forget a Mudblood.

Yet he didn't know what it meant for him now, all those things. He didn't hate Potter anymore, he didn't see him as a rival any longer, because Lucius wasn't there to compare him with Scarhead. Also, it was childish and he had abandoned childish things in his sixth year. And mudbloods, half bloods, blood traitors. What did he believe? Did he still think mudbloods were worse than him? He didn't know, he never had asked himself those questions seriously, he had had no time during summer and now he just kept avoiding them. Yet he still found himself in Granger's room, glaring at her warning and anxious stares, because they might be caught together by Potter.

oOoOo

Just as Hermione slammed the door close she heard Harry entering the common room.

"H-Harry..! Hey," she stammered after she turned around to look at him.

"Hermione, hey how are you?" Harry walked to her and hugged her as a greeting. She however just stood stiff there.

"Er... fine, how about you? How w-was work?" she avoided his eyes and walked to the sofas, trying to get him away from her bedroom door. Harry followed her which made her sigh in a relieved way. He wrinkled his brow in confusion and sat beside Hermione. His spot was warm, but it didn't bother him because he thought it was Hermione who had been sitting there.

"It was okay, Shacklebolt discussed a few things with me and with some other people. He asked me if I would like to start Auror training," he explained.

"Oh Harry, that's – that's great. And what did you say?" She tried to listen to him, but too many thoughts swirled around in her head. It was hard to ignore the fact that Malfoy was in her room _hiding_. She doubted that he wouldn't touch her stuff. He was probably going through her wardrobe looking for knickers by now. Hermione crinkled her nose thinking about that.

"...Hermione?" his expression grew grave. "Are you okay?"

"Oh sure everything's fine, I'm sorry I drifted off. What did you say?" she blurted.

Harry didn't buy it. And Hermione could read on the look of his face that he was about to protest.

"Really Harry, there's nothing wrong –I'm fine. No need to worry, now tell me about your Auror training plans." Hermione repeated.

"Alright, but you know you can always talk to me about everything." Harry placed his hands on hers and caressed it with his thumb.

Hermione was only able to smile at him and waited for him to continue talking about his past days. She felt utterly guilty to lie at her best friend, but she couldn't tell him that Malfoy was in her room, so she swallowed her bad conscious down and listened to what Harry had to say.

They stayed probably for about one hour in their common room talking. Hermione asked him if he didn't want to go see Ginny. He answered that he already had, he had been there before he came here. She was relieved, but also flustered over the fact how easily she could've been caught kissing Malfoy and she promised to herself to never make _appointments _with him on the same day Harry arrives again.

"No, the new profess-" Harry started, but a sneeze coming from another room interrupted him. Hermione's heart dropped, '_this is the end, I'm about to get caught!', _she thought.

"Did—did you hear that?" Harry stood up with a curious- but worried expression on his face, his brows wrinkled and his eyes were wide open as if he could see better that way.

"N-no, well yes.. I- I heard it, oh sit down Harry! It-it was probably j-just Crookshanks!" Hermione tried to tell a good and clear lie, but she ended up stuttering again. Her cheeks grew warm when Harry looked at her with confused eyes.

"You sure you're okay? And I didn't know Crookshanks could... sneeze that loudly." his voice was matching his expression.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at her still standing friend.

"You know, you're right. I-I feel a bit dizzy, I'll just go to my- bedroom and maybe have a nap or you know... take an energy potion. Didn't sleep that well yesterday." She stood up as well and continued:

"You should go to the Gryffindor common room, I'll follow up soon." Hermione gave him a brief, warm smile and tried to get rid of him (_'I'm such a bad friend'_) so Draco could finally leave her bed – and common room.

"I'll go later, I still have some things to do and I want to rest for a while." he explained.

Harry disappeared into his room and Hermione was still standing in front of the door. She sighed before she opened it and found Draco in front of her shelf with an old book in his hands.

"Finally how lo-" he snapped after he saw her entering. But Hermione interrupted him furiously.

"Shush! Harry is still here!" she whispered, but her anger was very noticeable.

Draco closed the book with an annoyed frown and wanted to put it back, but he inhaled the old dust which made him sneeze loudly again. Not one second past and Hermione had her wand in her hand putting a silencing charm up.

"Malfoy!" she hissed after she was finished. He shoved the book back at its place and looked at her with sparkling, annoyed eyes.

"What! Why the bloody hell did you sneeze? Twice?!" she yelled at him, her arms crossed.

"Calm the fuck down Granger. Your precious friend didn't notice anything, did he?" he spat.

Draco was in a bad mood. He had waited for an hour in a room of a Mudblood (and didn't know how much it should bother him) and the room was not interesting at all. He had gone through some of her drawers and also through her wardrobe, but he only found boring, weird clothes – probably muggle clothes. He hadn't found any in any way scandalous or naughty lingerie, but then he had asked himself if he really wanted to find that in Granger's room.

So he had decided to go through her books, he found loads of books he hadn't heard of and he assumed they were simply muggle books. He had snorted finding those and had pretended to be revolted by it. And then he had found the big old book that had made him sneeze... twice.

"Anyway. You can't leave now." she stated after she calmed down, her face softened a little.

"Sure, you want me to stay as long as possible." he sneered. Hermione only rolled her eyes and sat on her bed.

Both of them were silent. Draco started to stare on the floor. Some strands fell in his eyes and he wiped them away. Hermione also stared randomly on something in her room. She felt how the awkwardness and the tension grew and how it made the seconds pass slower. The only movement and noise in the room was Draco sweeping his hair back. And after five seconds he swept them back again. But once more some strands fell into his eyes and he had to wipe them back. Draco lifted his arm to repeat his actions until Hermione interrupted him.

"Malfoy! Stop it, it's seriously annoying." she hissed at him.

"It's your fault why we are here in the first place. Stop complaining around and get me out of here," he hissed back.

Hermione only rolled her eyes as response, again. But it was true, she should get him out of her bedroom, Draco being here was personal and intimate and she never wanted to get on that level with him.

She looked at Malfoy again, he was staring on her book shelve with knitted brows. His hair was slightly messy but still looked neat, his eyes were sharp yet deep as grey could be. He was very different from Ron. Ron's hair was red and untidy and mostly too long, Hermione kept telling him to make an appointment at the hairdresser's. He however always prefered to let his hair cut by Mrs. Weasley which didn't come out... that well.

Also, his eyes weren't like Malfoy's ice cold, grey eyes—they were a dreamy blue color. They were lovely and sometimes they would get this flicker of concentration when they practiced dueling together which she dearly loved, but he never had this sharpness in them while studying. It didn't bother Hermione though. Really, she rarely saw that kind of look on someone.

"Hermione?" she heard Harry call her name and it gave her almost a heart attack. "Are you coming with me?" his voice became louder as his steps got clearer and sounded nearer.

"Shit," she whispered to Draco who stared at her with wild eyes.

"Do something!" he whispered back with the intention to yell at her.

"Can I come in?" Harry knocked.

Hermione trembled and looked at Malfoy's chalk white face. Her hands got sweaty and her mind was spinning while she was searching for a solution.

Draco was already opening her wardrobe furiously and looked for a space where he could squeeze himself in, but there was none and Hermione knew that.

"Shit. Fuck. Granger don't stand around, help me!" he hissed as he gave up his attempts to hide between her clothes.

"I'm thinking..." Hermione started her response, but she was interrupted by Harry's voice.

"Hermione?" he almost sounded worried, "I'm coming in, alright?"

Draco watched the door handle being slowly pressed down, but before the door was opened Hermione swung her wand pointing towards him.

And within some seconds Harry stood in her room looking rather confused.

"Her-Hermione? Are you okay? You look bloody pale." Harry walked to her and placed a hand on her forehead.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah – Yeah I'm fine. Thanks Harry, I am just a bit tired." She explained.

"Are you fit enough to go to the Gryffindor tower with me?" he asked with a small smile on his lips.

"You go first, I will come later. Like I said, I would like to take a nap" Hermione answered him and observed his eyes. They weren't looking at her though, he was glancing over her shoulder.

"Okay... Erm Hermione, what is this bedside table doing in the middle of your room?" his tone sounded more confused than before.

Hermione's cheeks turned red as she turned around and looked at the bedside table. It looked horrible—not the table, but the situation. The table itself was very beautiful, more beautiful than she had expected. But the whole setting really looked weird and rather chaotic for her.

"It's new. I bought it... And I have been too tired to put it in place." she said quickly, though she thought in a too muggle-ish way.

"Why didn't you levitate it to its place?" he asked while driving through his raven black hair.

Hermione face palmed herself internally and questioned her intelligence.

"I—I prefer to furnish my room in the muggle way. Reminds me of home." she tried to explain and sent him a small smile while he was walking towards the bedside table.

Then, Harry grabbed it each side and carried it to the empty spot beside her bed. After he placed it there, a small groan came out of his mouth and he looked back to Hermione, who surprisingly to him looked very worried.

"Everything okay?" he asked once again. Hermione quickly shook her head as if it would clear her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm sorry... you didn't have to carry it there, I'm sure that you're still tired from your travels." Hermione smiled at him.

He walked to the door saying he wasn't tired and asked her once more if she really wanted to stay here and not join him.

"I'll follow up soon, Harry. Just go already and meet Ginny... and Ron!" Hermione declared and bade him farewell.

After he left her room, she waited some more seconds until she heard the main door close to release a deep sigh of relief.

Her eyes searched for the bedside table and she still didn't realize what she had just done. Then, she got out her wand and mentally prepared herself to be yelled at. With a quick swing she de-transfigured Draco. The first three seconds he baffled, but then he realised that he was back and after he caught Hermione's gaze his eyes turned angry like there was actually lightening in them.

"Granger," he snarled slowly, his voice was low and cold it made Hermione shiver – and he sounded pissed, but he was still calm.

With rather long steps he moved to her and began to complain:

"Why the bloody fuck did you transfigure me into a... a bedside table? Granger?! Did you forget who I am? I am Draco Malfoy, a pureblood! I'm not supposed to be transfigured by someone like you–" _'Shit' _he thought after he cut himself and became conscious of what he just said or almost said.

He could read in her eyes that she was hurt, but it vanished as quickly as the expression came and there were again those normal, but beautiful autumn brown eyes in front of him.

Hermione was actually hurt and she still felt this lump in her throat. The oxygen around her felt as heavy as liquid in her lungs, yet she tried to breathe regularly. She didn't understand why she reacted this way, why she felt so disappointed right now. She always told herself that he still thought the same about her and about mudbloods. But deep in her mind there was a feeling lingering around, telling her there was a chance that the war might had changed him.

She cleared her voice, trying to get rid of the lump and spoke up, since she noticed the silence that had been built.

"Like me. I know how you see me, Malfoy. You don't need to hide it." She said and turned around facing the door. "I'm just a _Mudblood_ to you," she said in an uncaring, rolling-my-eyes tone, but in reality she couldn't hide the pain in her eyes any longer saying it out loud.

Draco didn't tell anything in response, what should he even tell. _'Yes, you got it right´, 'Finally you accepted it´. _Yes, she was a Mudblood for him and he didn't understand why he caught that look in her eyes. The last time he saw it was probably six years ago, so why now? Or did he misread it, because at the moment he thought she was taking it right well. And why did he stop his sentence so suddenly? Why did he not continue talking, telling her the word _Mudblood_ right in the face. He wasn't guilty, he couldn't be. Maybe he felt like it was forbidden for him to tell it after the war. But why should he care? Because his and his family's reputation was fucked up and he didn't return to Hogwarts to make it worse – but rather to push it up a little.

"Anyway we should go." Hermione started and interrupted Draco's wave of thoughts. After she opened the door in front of her and exited the room she continued:

"You should probably go first since I told Harry that I wanted to take a nap." Her voice still carried the uncaring, light tone which made Draco slightly uncomfortable. And after that he remembered – _'Potter!' _

"Wait, wait, wait, not so fast Granger! You think I forgot that Potter carried me around as a fucking bedside table? You will pay for that." he started the fight again.

Hermione turned around to face him and he saw flames in her eyes.

"Malfoy, calm down you twit! We were about to get caught, I had to do _something_ and I acted suspicious enough I couldn't yell at Harry telling him he wasn't allowed to touch my bloody bedside table!" She ranted furiously in a shrill voice.

Draco liked Hermione being angry as always and couldn't hide his smirk, but he wanted to provoke her more, right now she was rather annoyed than angry.

"Can't yell at Potter, huh? So he is still the hero you obey? You're even worse than Crabbe and Goyle!" His eyes sparkled with derision. And he knew he achieved what he wanted when he saw her expression tense.

"I don't _obey _anyone. Harry and I respect each other, that's what it's called, Malfoy. I bet that word doesn't exist in your vocabulary." She crossed her arms and squinted her eyes. She knew Draco wanted to make her angry and usually she won't let him, but her mental state wasn't like usual and she was too incited to let it go.

In the meantime, Draco stepped once more closer.

"I have that word in my vocabulary, it's just rarely used." his voice was cool and low and only then Hermione noticed how she could feel his breath on her cheeks, on her nose, on her lips.

She glanced at his lips and she was caught in them. And Hermione remembered the kisses from two hours ago. How she had kissed him so suddenly and how he had pulled her closer to him, it gave her this weird, exciting feeling in her gut thinking about it. About his lips that were so close. She can't deny it any longer, she fell in love with his kisses, they were magical and she only wanted his lips, she only wanted to kiss them.

Then she looked up into his unreadable, passionate grey eyes and realised what she just thought. Hermione realised that it was Draco Malfoy standing in front of him and not Ron Weasley, her bloody boyfriend. She was shocked from herself and felt disloyal and revolted from herself.

Quickly she stepped some steps back and recalled what she wanted in her common room: Draco to leave.

"You should probably go first. I will leave ten minutes after you, just hurry." Hermione said with an almost broken voice, but she still acted strong.

Draco on the other hand was confused. He didn't understand what just had happened, Granger had terrible mood swings. And maybe he didn't want to know and didn't want to understand so he walked to the door, said a small goodbye and left.

While he walked down the corridor, he thought about the situation. He didn't want to, but Granger's eyes were stuck in his mind, he couldn't forget the look of them, how they suddenly changed from angry and burning to dreamy and lovely to shocked and angry, again.

And how she looked at his lips. It made him almost shiver. But he kind of enjoyed her looking at him with those eyes, he liked it.

_'Fuck'._

He remembered what else he had liked and how his body had reacted to it. The kiss from Granger, how could he let his dick get hard when he was kissing the _Mudblood_? And why didn't he feel as awful and disgusted as he should be? It wasn't also just one Mudblood, Muggleborn, whatever for him. It was Granger – the Granger he hadn't liked from the first moment he had seen her, the one with the bushy hair and large front teeth (which he knew she no longer had), the shitty Granger with her shitty friends and the girl who hit him in third grade.

He snorted, that moment was ridiculous. But he suddenly noticed something—when she had hit him he had felt a similar feeling that he had felt today. The blood rushing to his penis, yes, he had been turned on by her hitting him and he had denied it for so long. He never wanted to believe it—not even now.

But he couldn't deny what he had felt today.

oOoOo

Hermione was in the common room for hours talking and laughing with Ginny, Harry and luckily Ron was there, too. She forgot her thoughts about Malfoy and enjoyed the time with her friends. It reminded her of the summer holiday when they had been at the burrow and she loved to have those kind of feelings back with her favorite people on earth. It was nice to talk with them again, their conversations made the time fly and it was already half past nine in the evening.

"Should I go to the kitchen and get some food? I'm hungry." Hermione asked the others.

"Yeah you should go, I'm starving! Knew it wasn't a good idea to skip dinner." Ron said with an awkward smile.

Hermione got up from the sofa and wanted to leave, but Ginny stood up, too.

"Wait, I'll join you, alright?" she told and gave Harry a small peck before they both exited the common room.

They walked down the stairs to the corridor, which was empty as usual at this time. The air was cooler than during the day, but it was always chilly in the castle.

"So..." Ginny started, "Hermione, I know something is going on."

Hermione almost got a heart attack. '_Oh Merlin, does she know it? About Draco?!'_

Her pulse sped up, even though she told herself to calm down and breathe.

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly and unsure.

"You and... Ron..." Ginny then stated which made Hermione sigh in relief, this day caused her too much nerves.

"I know something is wrong, and you have been acting rather strange the last few weeks," her red haired friend continued.

"Harry asked you to talk with me, hasn't he?" Hermione came to conclusion since he had whispered around with her in the common room before they had left.

"Yeah, but don't change the topic!" Ginny admitted.

Hermione hesitated, she didn't want to tell anyone about her problems with Ron, because she still thought they were only temporary and would vanish soon – or better, she didn't want to admit to herself that they were _not_ temporary and that it wasn't just a small problem anymore. It was time to tell at least Ginny about the situation and she felt bad for keeping it from her since she even told Malfoy about Ron.

"Okay.." she started, thinking about her boyfriend and best friend made her voice tremble.

"So, it all began on the first night of our return..." Hermione explained the whole situation.

Ginny told her she knew something was going on, but she was never really sure and thought that it maybe only was because of school stress. But then, why should the atmosphere change between them when it hadn't changed during war?

However, Hermione felt rather relieved. First she was a bit embarrassed and she felt naked, but Ginny's comfort was something she had needed. It felt nice to be loved. Yes, she was kissed by Malfoy, but that wasn't nearly comforting or loving – there weren't any feelings involved which maybe made her even sicker and lonelier. It helped her though. But Ginny was a good friend and it was nice to be comforted by someone again.

* * *

**A/N:** End! Hope you enjoyed it, please review, follow, favorite!  
By the way, I am** searching** for a **Beta Reader** so if anyone is interested, just PM me.


	7. 7 Progress

Chapter 7: Progress

The next few days past quickly. Hermione had lots of essays to write and books to read, more than usual, which made it easier to forget about her problems she had. She met up with Malfoy less than before, because she had no time and simply because they had no common room to hide either. Sometimes they went to the Room of Requirement, but it cost them too much expenditure and they were too anxious about being caught since there were always some people on the seventh floor.

Despite her busy schedule, Hermione saw Ronald more often, Harry didn't plan on leaving Hogwarts for the next weeks and wanted to spend a lot of time with both of them.

Hermione was in the Gryffindor common room writing her Arithmancy essay. She usually preferred to work and study either in the library or in her own head common room, but it was uncommonly silent and calm in the Gryffindor tower. Last Friday evening many Hogwarts students left the castle to visit Beauxbatons – Professor McGonagall expanded the amount of exchange pupils since more had applied than she had expected, besides the program should make the young wizards and witches more joyful and not the opposite so she couldn't reject almost everyone.

Another reason why Harry was clinging to her and Ron: Ginny was in Beauxbatons. Hermione hadn't seen anyone that excited for a long time when McGonagall read her name one dinner. Luna however didn't make it on the list, therefore Hermione promised the platinum blond witch to spend time with her.

"Hey 'Mione, what are you doing?" she heard a familiar voice behind her. Within some seconds she found two arms wrapped around her from behind and Ronald leaning his head on her shoulder.

"Ron...!" She gasped. "Um, writing my essays." She was surprised. They were on slightly better terms, but Ron still didn't show up without Harry, ever.

"And what are you doing here? Where's Harry?" Hermione asked, she didn't try to hide her confusion. Ron walked around the sofa and sat beside her.

"I don't know, I think he has a meeting with McGonagall about his future plans or something," he explained passively as he laid his arms around her shoulder.

Hermione didn't know how to react to his... sudden change of interaction. She decided to put her essay and books on the table in front of her and bring them away from her knees and away from Ron since she knew he was clumsy and the sheets would be crumpled easily around him.

She looked at his freckled face thoughtfully, at his – she found – lovely blue eyes, trying to read his ulterior motive out of them.

He didn't notice her obvious stare or maybe he only pretended to not notice it, but simply continued with his actions of change and brushed a strand of her curly hair out of her face like he had used to do. Hermione hadn't been that confused for a long time and her brows were knitted in a rather perplexed frown. she was about to protest, but then Ron suddenly gave her a kiss, two three on her cheek (wet, like they had used to be) and wandered with his lips to her mouth.

Hermione's mind couldn't think clear – but her heart felt joy and happiness, her frown disappeared in a sudden to a soft expression.

"I've missed you, 'Mione," he whispered between his smooches. Who thought that three words that weren't _"I love you"_ could make a person that happy.

Hermione leaned into his soft and loving kiss, her heart felt alive, felt the oxygen rich blood flow through it with every touch of Ron's lips. Nearly drowning in her blissful feelings, she remembered that she had to take the opportunity and use the techniques she had learned.

Her tongue inserted his mouth as she placed a hand on his nape, their kiss was probably the most enthusiastic kiss she had ever shared with him and she hoped he enjoyed it as much as she did.

After their lips finally separated, both gasping for air, Ron had an expression on his face like he had had back in sixth year after he had eaten Harry's chocolates spiked with some love potion.

"Wow...! Hermione... That was amazing!" he stated with his mouth open almost drooling. Hermione was relieved about his reaction, she was truly happy and couldn't believe that her plan she had made with her unstable emotions worked.

"I... I'm just glad we're finally together again," she sighed with a sincere smile on her lips.

Ron cupped her cheeks with his hands and started to kiss her again. This time more aggressively, more willing. Hermione's nerves whirled and rushed around, a tingling feeling aroused in her stomach. She felt sincerely content, but then she slowly thought about her whole situation.

She didn't want to snog with him and be with him like before without having a proper conversation and not knowing clearly what his problem had been or was. Ron had ignored her for several weeks and she wanted to have an explanation from him. Also, she knew (or secretly she hoped) her kissing couldn't quite be the only reason why he hadn't talked to her for a month.

Although she was very happy at the moment and she didn't want to ruin it, she needed an explanation, she needed a reason why she had been dejected, depressed and just not herself for a whole month.

Gently she pushed his chest with her feminine hands away and looked in his surprised face which made her hesitate quickly and made her think if she really wanted to risk her new found happiness so suddenly. But Hermione was an intelligent lady, she knew that if she would not ask him and learn about the problem, history might repeat itself and then this _new found happiness_ wasn't real, but rather a temporary pseudo happiness.

Hermione didn't know how to start, she was still afraid of losing him once more and that within only some minutes having him back again.

Just as Ron wanted to place his lips anew on hers, she interrupted him.

"Ron… What actually was the matter? Why didn't you talk with me for so many weeks…" her eyes started to get wet when she thought about the night Ron had been so cold to her and leaving her in confusion, but she swallowed the sorrow down and remembered that it was over.

Ron nervously hawked, his expression turned from dreamy to anxious. Nonetheless he started to speak or rather started muttering.

"Erm, I'm sorry Hermione… But I don't know what happened. Maybe I was just nervous and everything and I was bloody embarrassed the next day… I couldn't look at you after that and… and that I blamed you made it only worse." he mumbled, his voice sounded worried and apologetic.

But Hermione was relieved and hugged him as respond. She hugged him tightly and he wrapped his arms around her as well, although he was quite dumbfounded by her reaction.

"You never have to be embarrassed about something in front of me, Ronald. I love you."

oOoOo

"Draco... Glad to see you," a blond haired young witch greeted him in the Three Broomsticks. She was, despite her worried expression, very pretty, and she wore a robe as noble as Draco's.

"Hello Daphne," he greeted her shortly as he sat down at the opposite end.

"How are you and Blaise? And how is Hogwarts?" She asked him hoping to hear something about her former housemates. Draco told her about Blaise's idea of house unity and how Hogwarts tried best being a bit more cheerful than usual.

"Tell me about Pansy." He said straight out—unlike her he didn't want to talk around the bush, it was his free Saturday afternoon and there were other things which had to be done.

"How was she able to contact me? And what am I supposed to do?" He asked her with a calm voice hiding his inner stress.

"Well, I have my connections in the Ministry, especially for a lady people will more likely turn a blind eye. Anyway, I found a former Hufflepuff student working as guard in Azkaban who was controlling the prisoners regularly. I befriended him, talked always about my poor friend unjustly imprisoned and voilà, he let me pass a letter to her and let her write back, of course."

She took a sip of her butterbeer Rosmertha had brought moments ago. Her Slytherin traits were unquestionable which made Draco smirk, but his expression turned quickly back to serious again as his former housemate continued to explain.

"Anyway," she sighed, "I didn't lie to the Hufflepuff guy when I told him how horrible Pansy had it. She really wants to get out, she even wanted to join the eighth year... Well, that's not the point. We should help her get out, particularly you should do something against her bad situation since you are the one who could escape the punishment and you have the power to help her, too."

Draco massaged his nose bridge to calm his nerves. He didn't know what he should do, he wanted to help his friend, but he was under constant observation by the Ministry, one wrong move that would make him look suspicious and he would be sent to Azkaban.

"Listen, Daphne. I don't know if I can help Pansy. You know many people weren't happy about the court ruling of my trial and they will use every opportunity they get to satisfy themselves. It's too risky to help someone getting out of that hell of a prison, especially when that person is held there for the same reasons I would have almost been locked up for." Draco grunted and gulped down his butterbeer.

"_That person_ is our friend, Draco." she was upset and frowned disappointingly at him. "Can't you risk your arse for her?"

Draco started to get agitated, he could no longer fake his calmness. He was becoming rather livid. He pressed his fists hard together, his knuckles turned white, sallower as he already was,

"I would not only risk _my arse. _My father is in Azkaban and will probably never return. I am the only Malfoy heir, I have to take care of the manor, of the family businesses et cetera. And I can't leave my mother alone. As the heir I have too many responsibilities and a too huge future destined for me. And my family doesn't have the power they used to have."

With that, the discussion ended. Daphne was stubborn and still didn't understand why Draco couldn't help Pansy, but she accepted the fact that he wouldn't. She was very upset and angry about it, though, and they both left the Three Broomsticks in quite a grim mood. Luckily he didn't have to spend time with her sister Astoria, she was in this Beauxbatons exchange project—her squealing in the Slytherin common room couldn't be ignored. Draco had found his interest in her, however, with many difficulties going on at the moment he didn't have enough nerves to be hearing her high-pitched voice.

oOoOo

Hermione waited in front of Hagrid's hut for class to begin. Thanks to her solved problems with Ron she was always punctual (even too early on schedule like her usual self) and of course, she had written her Arithmancy essay without any trouble. Now she was beaming, waiting for Hagrid to start the Care of Magical Creatures class. 

Hermione looked through the crowd of students who were waiting as well. They were less than usual, a lot of people were missing. The reason was probably the Beauxbatons project.

"Hullo everyone," Hagrid started with a loud voice, the crowd's talks and conversations turned silent and the students turned their attention to the professor.

"So we're goin' ter observe an' experiment with Glumbum'les." Hagrid's excitement could be sensed... as always. "Anyone know whatta Glumbum'le is?" He asked the crowd with his sparkling, dark eyes.

"A Glumbumble is a grey, furry, flying insect that produces a Treacle. The Treacle is used as an antidote to the hysteria caused by eating Alihotsy leaves. However, it induces melancholy in those who consume it." Hermione recited perfectly as if she'd read her response out loud from a schoolbook.

Hagrid beamed proudly and walked with big steps to a table near his hut. The young wizards and witches followed him, some more curious than the others, as he continues his lesson.

"Correct Hermione, very good! Ten points ter Gryffindor! Now, yeh see tha'?" he picked up one of the jars that was placed on the table. There was a grey insect inside of it. "Tha's it, a Glumbum'le! Yeh gotta work with yer partner togeth'r an' get some Teacle from yer Glumbum'le. Tha's yer project fer the nex' four lessons. Be nice to yer Glumbum'le or else it won't give yeh Treacle."

"But Professor Hagrid, Ginny isn't here. Should I work alone? Luna asked him as the other students started to pick up a jar.

Hermione's partner was Neville in Care of Magical Creatures, but she found it wouldn't be a big deal if Luna worked with her, she was rather fond of magical creatures and wouldn't hinder Hermione.

"You can work with Neville and I." she suggested after thinking her idea through.

"My partner isn't here as well, Professor," a voice stated. It belonged to no other than Blaise Zabini.

"Tha's convenient, yeh two will work togeth'r then!" Hagrid pressed a jar in Zabini's hands with a big smile across his face. Hermione was startled by Hagrid's decision, but Luna didn't seem to care and walked with Blaise away.

"Did you know that Glumbumbles like the smell of butterbeer?" Luna asked her new partner in her usual dreamy voice.  
Blaise responded with a laugh and shook his head.

"That's one bloody bizarre fact."

"My third stepfather was fond of insects like Glumbumbles though. When I was young I used to observe some and we also found one of the rarest insects." Blaise eyed Luna with a playful smile, knowing she would be curious what kind of creature he had found.

Hermione was confused by the Slytherins. Zabini used to call people like the Lovegoods and the Weasleys blood traitors and now he was almost flirting with Luna. Hermione knew that he was a playboy, though—he had once had a thing with Ginny after she had fought with Dean and had come late to the dinner of the Slug club. He had had always an eye on her and lastly after dinner he had pulled her away when Harry hadn't been around. Hermione didn't know though what had happened in detail—Ginny had been too embarrassed to tell her.

Hermione walked with Neville who already had a jar in his hands to their working spot and forgot about her suspicious thoughts about Blaise Zabini.

oOoOo

The October wind blew through Hermione's brown locks and made them messier than they usually were. It was fresh up in the Astronomy Tower, but it was beautiful as well. The view was phenomenal, especially on this hour it was just stunning and extraordinarily pretty.

It was sunset, the sky was colored in every red shade one could imagine. Almost every student was busy eating dinner in the Great Hall. Hermione, however, told Harry and Ron that she was busy; that she had homework to solve and essays to write. She felt truly guilty, really, because she was lying to them once again. Well, she had homework to do, of course, also essays to write, but she had done them already.

She was waiting for Draco Malfoy and the Astronomy Tower was their new meeting point as long as Harry was in Hogwarts. It had surprised her that Malfoy himself actually had approached her once in the library to ask her about her _tutoring lessons_ and had suggested to meet in the Astronomy Tower.

Of course, he had made sure that no other soul had been in sight and his usual smug attitude had been on. But Hermione didn't care a bit, because soon she didn't need that git any longer. Her relationship and her life were looking up and she is glad about it. Her last year was finally the most important year.

Suddenly she noticed a blonde man in the corner of her eyes. Draco silently arrived and stood beside her looking at the colorful, magical dusk.

"Isn't it beautiful... the sky..." Hermione stated with a delicate tone after a while of silence between them. She looked at his face, his fair skin seemed softer in this kind of light. His eyes weren't the color grey. They sparkled silver, and his hair was golden white. _Draco Malfoy..._ he looked wonderfully peaceful and... handsome, breathtaking, more beautiful a human could be.

He turned his head to her and looked at her.

"Staring again, Granger?" He smirked and everything beautiful, handsome, and 'breathtaking' about him vanished in an instant.

Hermione didn't say anything which forced Draco to respond to her previous statement.

"Yes, the sky is beautiful," he agreed. "Nevertheless, it is just an illusion... a play of colors." Draco then sighed. His sigh almost sounded sad, or rather wistful. It let Hermione be wistful, it let her think about the person sitting next to him and how pity his view of the world was.

But before she could fall deeper into her thoughts about Draco, Hermione was awaken back to reality by the man's voice.

"Anyway, Granger. Let's get this over with." he had a dirty smirk on his lips and Hermione went from feeling sorry for him to being disgusted by him.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you!" She exclaimed as she suddenly remembered. "I met Ron yesterday!"

Draco's playful smirk turned into a repulsed expression. Hermione didn't let it bother her and continued excitingly.

"And we actually kissed and the mood was pretty good as well! He apologized for his past behavior towards me and I think everything's going back to normal again!"

"And yet you meet me to snog with me." Draco sneered. Hermione rolled her eyes at his comment, but in her mind she knew he was right – on the other hand, without her _snogging sessions_ with him her relationship with Ron probably wouldn't had gotten better.

"Anyway, how long do you want to do this?" He then asked in a blasé tone.

"Until I feel safe with him... Maybe when we had our first time together?" She wondered.

It was still awkward for her to talk about her problems and about her sex life with Malfoy of all people, but it felt awfully good to boss him around, telling _him_ when this whole thing was ready to be over – even if the topic to boss him around was rather weird.

"Alright," he smirked. He moved his whole body near to her, Hermione took it with surprise and leaned back, trying to make some space between her and Draco.

"You want to practice, don't you?" he whispered sensually as he moved himself nearer and nearer to her.

Hermione wasn't ready with his sudden changing actions and blushed as she let her body fall on the cold stone floor. Draco's body was only some inches above hers, his arms locked her up. His breath grew louder, almost hungrier with every inhale he made and broke the silence of the fresh evening. Yet Hermione caught herself holding her breath as she felt Draco's humid and warm exhale on her flushed skin. She shut her eyes, because his were too intense to look at when she suddenly felt warm, smooth lips brushing hers.

Her whole body heated up, electricity rushing through her skin. Draco gave her a tender kiss before licking her sweet upper lip sliding its way into her mouth. His lips tasted like sour green apples and his body smelled manly and familiar—Hermione started to love his musk, it sent her a tingling feeling over her skin and gave her goosebumps.

His kisses became rougher, more passionate, more aggressive. He couldn't hold himself back any longer. A feeling like lightning shot through his veins with every time he touched her. He felt this sensation of heat and lust between his legs, his blood shooting into his crotch until it was hard and swollen. His French kisses went wild as he got reckless. He wanted more, he couldn't control his actions any longer, he was driven by his demands of his body. His hand wandered from her neck down to her breast grabbing it, he wanted to feel her, he wanted to satisfy his lust, but it only grew as his cock became harder.

"Mal—Malfoy—stop," Hermione whimpered between his kisses, having a hard time breathing.

Draco then realized what he was doing and quickly jumped off of her. He frowned as he looked at her lying on the floor, her school uniform rumpled.

"Filthy Mudblood," he hissed and stormed off.


	8. 8 Halloween

**Chapter 8: Halloween**

.

Draco walked down the Astronomy Tower fast enough so that he was almost running. His whole body was trembling, because it was too much of a shock for him. He didn't understand why he had acted that way towards Granger.

Why had he been so turned on by her, _again?_ At first, he'd thought that his body had responded in such a way because he hadn't enjoyed himself for months—but he'd had a good shag with a Ravenclaw girl before supper and in the past days, too. Yet, he could still feel his erection—and it was worse than the last time he'd gotten one because of Granger.

"_What the bloody hell!"_

Back in the Astronomy Tower, he had enjoyed snogging Granger and had forgotten who she actually was: Hermione Granger, a know-it-all, Potter's best friend, Gryffindor heroine and muggle-born.

Everything that defined her repulsed Draco, or_ should've _repulsed him. But apparently it hadn't affected him. And it _still_ didn't as his crotch was still awfully hard, the blood in his veins still heated, almost burning. Not to mention, he still had that tingly feeling in the pit of his stomach. But it wasn't a question if he was physically attracted to Granger .

"_No, I will never be,"_ he reassured himself. Maybe he was sick. Something was definitely wrong with him if his body had reacted in such a way.

Draco sighed as he thought about what had happened. As he walked through the not so empty corridors, he assumed some students had already finished eating dinner.

He sighed again.

He had called her "Mudblood" once more. He didn't know what to think about muggle-borns, if they were really worth less than him, a pureblood. But the fact remained that he actually didn't want to use the word 'Mudblood' again—especially in front of a Muggle-born.

First of all, he didn't want to call attention to himself; especially how after the war since some people still had an eye on him. And the last thing Draco wanted was to be suspected and thrust under the limelight. Secondly, he knew he'd hurt people by calling them that way.

"_Something's wrong with me!"_ Draco thought, horrified._ "It's almost as if I'm turning into a Hufflepuff!"_

He thought he should probably go to the Hospital Wing to get himself checked. But he couldn't go now considering his current state—he had to satisfy his lust otherwise his hard-on wouldn't go away.

As Draco passed the Great Hall, he was suddenly glad that he had put a robe on, since a crowd of people just walked out of it. Luckily, was a Ravenclaw group and his girl that he had shagged was there.

Quickly, he pulled her out of the crowd and dragged her to an empty classroom. He saw her pleasantly surprised on her face (and smug smile) and knew she wouldn't say no to him.

.

oOoOo

.

Hermione remained on the chilled stone floor of the Astronomy Tower. She was too shocked to move. She was puzzled, irritated, confused and... hurt? To be honest with herself, she actually felt rather betrayed.

She actually believed, for a period of time, that Draco had changed his views on the whole blood purity subject... But he hadn't—not really. But if that were the case, then she couldn't understand why he had kissed her so wildly, touching her with such passion and pent up sexual frustration...

"_Merlin's beard!"_

Hermione sat up and her expression changed, she looked more startled than ever.

She forgot about it... how could she forget about it? She had been so distracted by Draco calling her a Mudblood that she had forgotten about his erection. She had felt him, his bloody hard-on thrusting against her. On one hand, she was very bothered by it—she was sickened by the thought of Draco Malfoy getting an erection, because of her.

But on the other hand, and she didn't know why, she felt quite pleased with herself. She had just managed to make the _sex god _or whatever other girls named him, hard and he'd been extremely into their snogging session. Draco Malfoy had gotten an erection because of her—she hadn't even been naked. Unlike Ron, who hadn't reacted at all even as he had seen her exposed skin.

"_I'm getting a migraine," _she thought and finally stood up.

She was hungry, bewildered and she just knew that she'd get a headache soon. Hermione just wanted to forget about the whole matter. The meetings with Draco should _solve_ her problems, not give her more. With a deep sigh she smoothed down her school uniform and pulled her robe out from her satchel. It was getting quite chilly, now that it was autumn.

Hermione decided to pick up some food at the Great Hall or at the kitchen, depending on the situation if there were still left overs in the Hall.

As she walked down, she tried to get her mind off of Draco and tried to think about Ron. She should be happy right now and not irritated by Malfoy. But her thoughts kept swirling back to the blonde-haired Slytherin and she couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened with him.

"Hermione, I didn't see you at dinner today." Luna Lovegood greeted her dreamily; and Hermione noted that she was headed to the opposite direction.

"Oh, good evening, Luna. I was actually studying and finishing my homework in the library." Hermione gave her the best smile she could in her mood.

"Is something wrong, Hermione?" The Ravenclaw asked her in her usual faraway tone. "You look rather disoriented and baffled. And your cheeks are flushed." Luna smiled knowingly (although Hermione was quite sure Luna knew nothing).

Hermione asked herself how Luna noticed those things, but dropped the thought quickly as she realised that it would only make her more confused.

"Nothing, really nothing's wrong." She answered instead and changed the subject quickly. "Have you seen Harry and Ron?"

"I believe they're in the Gryffindor common room." Luna replied in a vague sort of tone.

Hermione decided that she wasn't hungry anymore. As much as she liked Luna, their conversation had ruined her appetite.

"Okay, I'll go to them then. Nice talking to you." Hermione bade farewell and turned around to go, but Luna interrupted her.

"Hermione... your lips are so pretty today," Luna said as a goodbye and Hermione stormed faster away than intended.

.

oOoOo

.

Hermione hadn't seen Malfoy for several days after their encounter. Maybe she had bloody good luck... or he steered clear of her—either way she was very glad about it. She didn't want to meet him, it would only make her stressed and she would think about their_ farewell_ all over again. Hermione didn't want to think about him, she didn't want to worry about something rather irrelevant (she always asked herself why the whole thing with Malfoy even bothered her).

Hermione wanted to be happy and enjoy her last year at Hogwarts. She wanted to enjoy the time with her best friends, especially with Ron since her relationship was fine again. And that was exactly what she was doing, she was meeting Ronald at the lake to have some time alone.

Sitting at the lakeside, she finally saw Ron walking towards her. Exchanging bright smiles he sat beside her and gave her a rather smarmy peck on her cheek.

"Have you been waiting long, 'Mione?" he asked her with a hug.

She shook her head as response. "No, it's okay I've just arrived." she lied. She didn't know why she had lied, normally she'd get angry at Ron for letting her wait—she had been waiting for half an hour. Maybe it was because she didn't want to mess things up with him again or maybe because she was extraordinarily happy with him. She found it very unlike her, though.

Hermione snuggled up in his arms, she loved doing this. Ron's body was well built seeing as how he was an active Quidditch player. Malfoy had a rather good body, too—

"_Why am I thinking about Malfoy?!" _she cut herself off.

"So, are you excited to see your sister again? She's coming back soon, right?" she asked him and tried to forget about her previous thoughts.

"I guess, but she'll be all over Harry and I still haven't gotten used to that." he shrugged half-heartedly.

"Are you talking about me?" A voice called from the side. Hermione looked to her left and saw Harry, Luna and Neville approaching them. She was glad to see Harry and the others, even though she wanted to have some privacy with Ron. It didn't matter. Although, she was anxious that Luna would mention something about the last time she had met her.

"Harry!" Hermione jumped up and hugged her best friend. "And no, we weren't." she chortled, in response to his question.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, turning to the others.

Luna and Neville were deep in conversation and didn't seem to hear her question. Hermione wondered what was up between them, she remembered that they had been holding hands and had cuddled after the Battle of Hogwarts. Ginny had told her though that nothing serious had happened between them, though, which was rather disappointing.

"Hermione, you look much better." Luna said then after ending her discussion with Neville.

Hermione felt her cheeks flush as she had been reminded of _that_ evening. Yes, she had been thinking about it since it was difficult to forget that irritating situation, but to be reminded of another person was something different.

Before she could find an answer and Ron could question Luna's statement though, Harry answered her other question and she was thankful about it.

"We're here to disturb your snogging session," Harry grinned cheekily.

_Snogging session. _Why did everything remind her of that night... and of Draco Malfoy? Hermione blushed a deep red, but gladly her strange reaction went unnoticed, because everyone were busy laughing.

.

oOoOo

.

Draco stood on the platform of the Astronomy Tower, taking a series of deep breaths. The cool air calmed his nerves... _usually_. He clenched his jaw, his brows was annoyed, irritated and had been in a bad mood since the last time he had seen Granger.

He had tried several things to calm his nerves. First of all, he had gotten Granger out of the way. He had decided that interacting with her would have made him angrier and more frustrated than he had already been. Then he had met with more silly girls than usual. And after more attempts to ease his temper, Draco had finally made up his mind to go to the Astronomy Tower where he _usually_ went when he wanted some peace. But he had not wanted to go up, because it would have reminded him too much about why he had been in such a foul mood.

Anyway, after going up he had found that it hadn't been that bad of a decision to visit this place, until now. Draco saw Hermione sitting by the lake and not alone – she was cuddling with her boyfriend.

Draco was disgusted, he didn't like Granger, but he detested that repulsive Weasel. He couldn't understand why Granger chose to be with that git, he was hideous, thicker than a mountain troll and almost as poor as a house elf. Draco snorted to himself and shook his head.

_"Why do I care?"  
_

He didn't understand why he had made up his mind about such an irrelevant thing.

And anyway, Hermione was no better. She was a know-it-all, a Gryffindor, a teacher's pet, a muggle-born—although she was rather clever... he couldn't deny that. She was brave, too and he had grown fond of that characteristic since he had learned how many people, his own father even, were no more than cowards.

"_Draco_," a low, mischievous voice behind him spoke. Draco wasn't surprised or dazed. His expression didn't change at all.

"What do you want, Blaise?" the Slytherin grunted. He saw from the corner of his eye how his dark skinned friend came to stand beside him, leaning his arms on the railing.

"I reckoned you'd be here," his friend just grinned. "What's up with you lately, though? You seem kinda off." Blaise continued, still grinning.

Draco grunted and ruffled his hair to let his frustration out. "Nothing," he breathed.

"That was definitely not nothing." Blaise stated, watching his irritated friend amusedly.

"Just drop it." Draco didn't know himself what it was that frustrated him. Was it because of how he had treated Granger? Or how he had felt around her? Or how he couldn't control himself when he had been near her?

"Okay, calm down mate. You don't have to tell me when you don't want to." Blaise then said seriously.

For a moment nobody talked. It was a comfortable silence, though. Both of them watched the people on the ground contemplatively, not talking.

"There comes Potter with his loyal followers." Draco commented with a snarl.

"Longbottom and Lovegood, what a _lovely_ combination." he added, smirking.

"Luna and Longbottom? Never." Blaise sneered, but kept his calm attitude.

Draco raised an eyebrow questioning Blaise's statement. "So it's Luna now, is it?" he smirked.

"Yeah, you know, she's fun. Crazy, but fun. I like her. She's different than other girls and really—I'm done with those. And don't call me a blood traitor or anything. You know that _we both _are over it. I mean come on, I see how you look at Granger and she's a muggle-born." he explained with a smirk, his tone as calm as always. Draco lost it though, his eyes grew wide when his friend mentioned Granger.

"What the fuck, Zabini! I'm not looking at Granger—seriously! I'm cool with you fancying Luna, and I'm getting over the blood traitor thing, but me and Granger? I swear on Salazar's grave, I didn't, I don't and I won't look at Granger in any way, not even with my arse." he seethed angrily as he lost control over his temper.

"Wow Draco, breathe. That was a joke." His friend grinned, amused.

"Didn't know that you were so passionate about Granger," Blaise teased him. Draco just frowned and ignored him, yet his usually fair, pale skin turned slightly red.

.

oOoOo

.

Hermione sighed. She was sitting in classroom 7A, about to have Arithmancy. And she couldn't avoid _him_ today since there was such a small amount of people that had chosen the subject. Besides, she had decided to talk with him. She hated to have to do it... but she had to.

She really wanted to eliminate the tension between her and Ron for good and the only way to do that, she reckoned, was to have their first time together—and she also thought that they were ready for it. The only problem was she had zero experience and a quite small knowledge about that kind of topic, that's why she needed his help.

She sighed again and buried her face in her hands.

"_I don't want to talk with him, I don't want to talk with him." _she whined inwardly.

After taking her hands out of her face, blond hair caught her sight. Draco had taken his seat two rows in front of her.  
Hermione gulped. Then she breathed in deeply and breathed long out. She was quite nervous to speak to him, but it had to be done. With another deep breath she summoned up her Gryffindor bravery and cleared her throat.

"Malfoy," she called louder than intended. She acted her confidence well, but her inner self wanted to vanish right away.

The Slytherin turned around and looked at her with his typical expression on his face—he was smirking.

"What do you want, Granger? Missed me?" he sneered. Hermione didn't let him provoke her and ignored his attitude. She was very annoyed, but she knew that she shouldn't mess this up.

So, she didn't change her serious expression and her tone sounded as confident as before.

"I need another lesson." she demanded, she had to suppress her cringe though after she had said that.

Draco only raised an eyebrow as reaction and waited for an explanation. Hermione sighed for the probably hundredth time today.

"I don't know how to... approach Ron..." she talked low. She didn't want the whole class hear about her matters.

"About what?" Draco teased her, acting innocent as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh Malfoy, you know what I mean!" she hissed, as quietly as possible. "Ugh!" she grunted frustrated. She just hated how he acted, it drove her almost to madness.

"I'm truly sorry, dear," he chuckled ironically after watching her being frustrated.

"I can't give you any tutoring lessons until Halloween, either you have to wait or you have to solve the problem by yourself," he continued with a mischievous grin.

"W-What? Why?!" Hermione stammered quickly as she frowned. Afterwards she cursed herself for sounding so desperate in front of Draco, again.

"The new professor has given me detention. If you want to know why, he found me shagging a rather tasty Ravenclaw girl in an empty classroom." he placed a dirty grin on his face.

Hermione grimaced, she was repulsed by him. He found he was such a stupid, disgusting git thinking he could snog and shag every girl. She was angry at herself for letting him kiss her, for kissing him. At least it had helped her. And after Halloween, after that one lesson she wouldn't need him anymore and she was very glad about it.

.

oOoOo

.

It was Saturday morning and Hermione was in the Gryffindor common room with Harry and Ron. They were waiting for Ginny to return. Harry was in a noticeably good mood; he was constantly smiling and grinning. Hermione was excited to see her friend again, too. Even though she wasn't that kind of girl who always gossiped, she started to miss her "girl talks" with Ginevra. Once in a while every girl needed that to feel alive.

Ron, however seemed anxious to meet her and Hermione didn't understand why. He didn't talk a lot, never said unnecessary things and rarely laughed unlike Harry. He had told her that he would be annoyed seeing Harry and Ginny snogging and hugging all the time, but that was not an excuse to be that tense.

Hermione ignored her boyfriend's strange behaviour and watched the common room's entrance.

"Merlin's Beard, what's taking her so long?" Harry grumbled just before a bunch of students strode through the portrait hole. The Golden Trio shot up and searched with their eyes for a red haired girl when finally Ginny stumbled out of the crowd.

"Ginny!" Harry and Hermione called excitingly, Harry threw his hands around her neck and gave her a bold kiss on her lips. Then he let her go so that Hermione could embrace her as well.

"Hey, little sister," Ron said with a smile and gave her a small hug after Hermione was done greeting her.

"You have to tell us all about Beauxbatons! And about France! How was it?" Hermione spluttered as they sat on the couches. The common room was more crowded than the past few days now that all Gryffindors were back.

The four of them sat in the common room for hours, mostly the three best friends listened to Ginny as she talked about her journey, how her classes had been, how different her meals had been and about many other details.

After lunch Ginny and Hermione decided to go to Hogsmeade today since Halloween was just next week on Friday, and they had to buy their costumes.

Ginny picked Hermione up. They both wore their house scarves and casual clothes, although Hermione's were more muggle-ish than Ginny's. With giggles they rode the carriage to the little town.

"So we'll go to Gladrags Wizardwear first and after we'll have butterbeersat The Three Broomsticks?" Ginny suggested with a smile. Hermione nodded with excitement. She loved going to Hogsmeade with Ginny.

"So Gin, as what or as who will you dress up at Halloween?" Hermione asked her as they walked to the shop.

"Hmm, I've been thinking I'd go as 'Little Red Riding Hood' from that muggle story. But of course, I'll be the sexy version." Ginny smirked, tossing her hair over her shoulder and making Hermione laugh. "How about you?"

"I honestly have no idea! And Little Red Riding Hood will fit you perfectly, Gin." Hermione responded.

"I'm sure I'll find you something that is made for you," the red haired chatted.

They entered the bright clothing shop, and luckily, it wasn't crowded. They reckoned most of the pupils had bought their costumes already.

Ginny found her costume rather quickly. It was a cute, but short white dress which showed her creamy, long legs. It came with a short scarlet cloak with a hood that was made out of a very light fabric. Ginny fell in love with the costume immediately.

Hermione, on the other hand, was clueless about what she should wear at the Halloween feast and hoped her friend could help her choose a good costume.

"I know what you could go as!" Ginny suddenly squealed as they looked through several costumes.

Ginny chose the dress for Hermione and gave it to her to try it on... and Hermione loved it. She studied herself in the mirror, grinning. The dress was stunning and the jewellery fit her as well. She hadn't felt so beautiful for a long time and couldn't stop smiling at the sight of her mirror image. She was happy and grateful to Ginny for choosing the costume. And she knew Ron would drool seeing her like this.

"I can't wait to see Ron and Harry's faces when they see us!" Ginny giggled as they walked out of the shop with their shopping bags. Hermione smiled at her friend. She had missed times like these, and from time to time it felt good to act kind of girly.

"Hey, we should go to the hairdressing salon, they have a little shop where we can buy potions for our hair and some make up. I heard there's this new lipstick line on sale." The red headed girl said.

Hermione agreed on going there, she needed a hair straightener potion for the feast or at least something that would convert her curls into loose waves. She was also looking forward to wearing some make up at the Halloween feast—Ginny had told her Ron loved it when she was wearing a bit of mascara.

With a blooming mood they hurried to the hairdressing salon. The October wind blew through their hair and the air smelled sweet. The scent came from the Three Broomsticks and from Madame Puddifoot's, and Hermione could recognize the smell of her favourite cake, the honey sponge cake.

Ginny gossiped about a Beauxbatons student, about how she disliked her and that she wasn't looking forward at all to see her in spring. Hermione just laughed like a drain but her laughter faded at once when she saw Malfoy walking towards Honeydukes.

And he wasn't alone. A pretty, young brunette with a cloak as luxurious as Malfoy's clung around his arm. Hermione stared at him, his expression was serious as always, but it was softer than usually. He didn't look in any way mean, not like he had done the other day when she had talked with him. Suddenly his eyes met hers. She jumped and quickly looked away and she felt warmth creeping up her cheeks.

Ginny pulled Hermione by her arm and stalked off.

"Why were you staring at Malfoy?" Ginny asked lowly even though Malfoy and his partner were long gone.

"Are you blushing? 'Mione! Explanation, now!" she demanded.

"Nothing... He's just a stupid prick all the time—I have Arithmancy with him." Hermione stammered.

"A-and he has detention, oh Merlin! That git, why is he here when he has detention?" she then added after she remembered.

"How do you know that he has detention... and why do you care? Despite of that, one doesn't serve detention the whole day." Ginny told and looked at Hermione with raised eyebrows.

"I'm head girl, Gin, of course I know when someone has detention and I surely must care when he's skipping it, but you're right. How could I forget that detention is mostly served at night." she sighed after she found a good explanation to tell her friend.

Ginny just rolled her eyes and laughed at Hermione. She believed her friend right away, because she thought that was typical for her.

"Anyway," Ginny laughed, "do you want to know who the girl beside him was?"

Hermione didn't need to respond since Ginny continued without her answer.

"Her name's Astoria Greengrass, sixth year, and obviously, pureblood and Slytherin." she rolled her eyes and continued,  
"Still remember the fair-haired girl, Daphne Greengrass who was in your grade? It's her little sister and all I know is that she has a huge crush on Malfoy. She visited Beauxbatons, too, she was even in my carriage and she was constantly blabbering about him. She bragged about how he promised her this date and that she _couldn't_ wait to come back.

"So you can guess, she's bloody annoying and full of herself. They're a perfect match, I'd even bet that they're soul mates." She spluttered and ended it with a cackle.

Hermione didn't find it as funny as she should have. She gave it a fake laugh and tried to forget about Malfoy. They quickly bought their potions and make up at the hairdressing salon and headed afterwards to The Three Broomsticks to drink their butterbeers, although both of them were weary, especially Ginny.

They didn't stay long, they bade Madam Rosmertha quickly farewell and exited the warm, comfortable pub and entered the chill weather outside.

"Ginny, nice to see you again, nice to see you, too Hermione." Luna greeted them.

"Luna!" Ginny embraced her. "How are you? Are you going shopping for the Halloween feast?" Ginny blurted.

"I am doing ordinary fine, thank you Ginny. And yes I am about to pick up a dress." Luna said in her usual tone.

"Oh, I should've asked you to come with us!" Ginny moaned.

"With whom are you going to the feast? With Neville?" she teased.

Luna gave the girls a light smile.

"No, I'm not going with Neville. Someone asked me to accompany him to the feast. A very nice Slytherin, Blaise Zabini." she said.

Hermione and Ginny's eyes grew big at the same time.

"Your partner in Care of Magical Creatures!" Hermione exclaimed. _"And a very good friend of Draco," _she thought.

"So there's something going on between you?" she asked curiously with a grin over her face.

"He's a lovely friend and I delight in his company." she said with her dreamy voice.

"Is there something, Ginny? You have grown oddly calm." the Ravenclaw then added.

"Oh, it-it's nothing. To be honest, I'm kind of stressed. But we'll talk later today again?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Sure, see you later today." Luna waved at them as they parted their ways.

This time it was Hermione's turn to raise an eyebrow, she found Ginny's behaviour also rather strange. Besides, Hermione saw her friend playing with her long, red hair and she knew that she only did that when something was foul. They got on the carriage to ride back to Hogwarts and luckily they were alone, so Ginny could start explaining herself.

"Gin, quit playing with your hair and tell me what is going on!" Hermione said strictly and Ginny dropped the bunch of hair in her hands of surprise.

"Okay, okay." she sighed.

"I just – It's because of Zabini... When I had a thing with him you know? First of all, he has been a real prick after I told him that I didn't want to continue our 'relationship' or whatever that was. I only ended things with him, because he wanted to keep us a secret and I hated that. And no I didn't act that way, because I still like him—I love Harry over everything, I'm just afraid that he'll hurt Luna, I mean she seems so innocent and she seems as if she's always dreaming.

"And about Harry, he doesn't know what happened between me and Zabini and I really don't want to tell him, but I have to, right?" she muttered.

Hermione gave her friend a light smile. She thought that Ginny worried too much about little things, but she wasn't the one to talk since she also did the same thing, worrying about stuff like Malfoy for example.

"Look, Luna is a Ravenclaw, she's a smart girl and she'll know if Zabini is a prig. And you mustn't worry too much about Harry, he won't judge you." Hermione tried to calm her down.

"_He won't judge you unless it's Malfoy,"_ she thought.

.

oOoOo

.

Hermione sat in her room at the make-up table she usually never used. Today though she was glad to have it. She made herself pretty for the Halloween feast together with Ginny. Her friend stood behind her and applied the potion they had bought to her hair. She already saw the difference. Her hair wasn't curly, but fell down her back in loose, glossy waves. Her hair seemed much longer than usual, which pleased Hermione.

"Wow, your hair looks amazing." Ginny gasped. "And look, the hair chain looks beautiful on you." she beamed as she placed the jewellery in her hair.

The red haired Gryffindor was already finished with preparing herself, Hermione found she looked very cute in her Little Red Riding Hood costume.

"So, are we done?" Hermione smiled at her friend. She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror, turning from side to side. She was very glad that Ginny had told her to buy the costume, she found it fit her quite well.

"Totally fancying it!" Ginny squealed. "Let's go, before Harry and Ron lose their patience." she giggled.

Hermione was excited to see Ron and his expression. She also couldn't wait to see Harry. They didn't tell each other what they would dress up as, after all, and Hermione was eager to see what Ron was wearing.

She took one last look at her mirror image before she walked out of her room with Ginny. Harry and Ron shot up from their seats as soon as they saw them. Their jaws dropped, Ron's eyes grew wide and he managed to put on a smile on his open mouth.

"'Mione, wow, you look beautiful." He said as he checked her out.

Hermione couldn't hide her happiness seeing her boyfriend like this. She realised how much she had missed him and had to embrace him.

"Oh Ron! You look great, too." She grinned after she let him go. "So, you are going as Godric Gryffindor! That suits you." she complimented him.

Harry was dressed as Dracula and Hermione couldn't hold back her laugh seeing her best friend being a bad guy since Harry was clearly the opposite of one.

Together they marched to the Great Hall that was already crowded with people. It was decorated wonderfully. There were pumpkins floating around everywhere and a long house table was full of Halloween themed food. The other tables had been conjured away, replaced by a dance floor. A popular band of the Wizarding world performed on a stage in front of the dance floor. All the students were already dancing and eating and one couldn't find a single person without a costume.

Hermione saw Luna wearing an Alice in Wonderland costume and her partner Blaise was dressed as a vampire. She also spotted a group of Gryffindor girls, Parvati wearing some Egyptian robes and jewellery. Hermione reckoned she was dressed as Cleopatra. And beside her was Lavender dressed as a fairy and Hermione was sure she had never seen a shorter skirt than that.

"Great job, 'Mione and Harry!" Ron grinned as he walked to the tables and grabbed a handful of spooky pumpkin crisps. Hermione and Harry had came up with the decorations since they were head boy and head girl. The prefects helped them to put everything in place yesterday night.

"Come on, Ronald. Stop eating and dance with me," Hermione said after a while and they all laughed.

.

oOoOo

.

Draco sat at the long table with an arm around Astoria. However, he looked bored and rather annoyed, because of his awful costume. He had lost a bet against Zabini, who he couldn't find in the Hall to yell at him. Because of that Zabini could choose his costume for the Halloween feast. With his luck his friend had told Astoria to choose a costume for him, but still – he didn't like what he wore even if it could've been worse.

"Oh come on, Draco!" she said with a high pitched voice as Draco took a sip of his Firewhiskey. "The costume is great! You're a Greek demi-god, and not just a random one. You're Adonis, he represents beauty and desire." she explained him for the fifth time. She had been obsessed with Greek mythology since she had visited Beauxbatons – she had told him that they had learned every day a new myth, because for the Beauxbatons Academy, Greek mythology was a very important point in cultural education.

Draco thought it was bollocks. Myths were stories, fairy tales, untrue and therefore irrelevant. He sighed as he saw how Astoria opened her mouth again to talk.

"He was also Aphrodite's most prominent lover, she was the most beautiful Greek goddess. I would've dressed up as her if I didn't buy my costume before." she said in a sassy tone.

"_At least she is attractive." _he thought after he growled and gulped his drink, he couldn't stand her blabbering today.

"Oh Merlin! Look at her! That bitch is dressed up as Aphrodite!" Astoria jumped up and pointed to the entrance.

Draco looked up with no expression, hiding his curiosity. His eyes grew wide and his mouth opened as he found Granger at the entrance. His heart just skipped a beat, he reckoned it was because he was surprised and shocked. Draco's face quickly turned back to his usual coldness and he looked away, but he didn't know why it was so difficult for him to do that, to look away, not to take a glance at her. Draco just had to look at her again, he wanted to stare at her but he didn't allow himself to do that.

"Oh, you mean _her_. That's just Granger. She's a mu- She's a nobody." he quickly said afterwards with a cool voice, trying not to act suspicious as he took a nip of his Firewhiskey, he was already feeling tipsy.

"Draco! I'm not stupid, I know who she is, she has been in the Daily Prophet for a period of time after the war beside Harry Potter." she spluttered.

"I didn't make an effort to remember her name, of course, but she's not a nobody and _she _is wearing the matching costume to yours." Astoria sighed.

Draco didn't listen to her rant, he kept glancing at Granger—he couldn't stop himself to and never let his drink out of hand. Her long, Greek dress accentuated her narrow waist; the golden hair chain gave her hair the perfect touch—_her hair. _It was very long, it looked neat and soft like silk. The waves framed her face perfectly.

"_She indeed looks like a Greek goddess."_

"_Damn it, no! She looks like Medusa." _he lied to himself and he couldn't suppress how his fair skin flushed by his thoughts, how he caught himself thinking the unforgivable and forbidden truth.

He needed something to calm his nerves, something that took his mind off of Granger. He looked at Astoria and abruptly kissed her keenly. He had to let it all out, every frustration he had felt for the past few weeks, every unexplainable feeling that had taken over his mind and body, everything that had upset him. It all went out – he tried to let it out as he kissed the girl beside him. He knew he was using her and using her admiration she had for him, but he was a Slytherin and that was what Slytherins do, she was one, too so she should have known better before messing with him.

Draco broke off the kiss as he ran out of oxygen. His lips still near hers, he took some deep breaths.

"D-Draco..." Astoria moaned, she seemed pleased with Draco's actions which only encouraged him more to let everything out on her.

Before pressing his lips on hers again, he wandered with his gaze to Granger who was enjoying herself with the Weasel. The kiss he shared with Astoria ended up more passionate and wild than the previous one. But it didn't affect him, it didn't matter how hard he kissed her or how much feelings he tried to pour into it.

"Wow, I didn't know you two were already that intimate, snogging in public?" he heard a familiar voice that interrupted the kiss.

"Blaise. What do you want?" Draco snarled as he wiped his lips with his wrist. "Why don't you bother your date?"

"She told she'll catch up with me, she's talking to Potter and Granger congratulating them for this or some sort of stuff." his friend said as he eyed Luna from afar.

Draco snorted as he mentioned Granger, he thought she was hunting him, she was everywhere.

"Anyway," his friend had suddenly a grin all over his face "neat costume you got there." he commented.

But Draco didn't listen. He watched Granger from the far. She walked away from her friends, her silky and long, coffee brown hair was carried by the wind as her floor-length, white dress with golden details did.  
He watched her as she waited in front of the Great Hall, gradually disappearing from his sight.

"I... I'll come back, soon. I have to... take care of something." he said passively and strode through the Hall, heading to the entrance. He didn't know what he was doing, but he needed to look at Granger. His heard throbbing sounds in his ears, his blood that shot through his veins was on fire.

He reached the exit and looked to his left where he found Granger leaning against the thick stone wall. He stared at her. _"What am I doing here?!" _he questioned himself, but it was too late to return.

"M-Malfoy," Hermione stammered in a weak voice, almost whispering.

He walked to her, his steps were weary and slow, but he always kept his eyes locked with hers. Hermione watched him with wide eyes, puzzled by what he was doing, yet she didn't stop him as he came nearer to her. She looked at his costume and she knew immediately that he was dressed as Adonis. She found it was almost ironic, it was a silly coincidence or was the universe playing tricks on her?

Draco stood in front of her, only some inches away. She could've kissed him if she wanted, that was how near their bodies were. She felt his warm breath dashing against her cheeks.

She looked into his eyes, they were as grey as a summer storm. His gaze was so strong, too strong to avoid.

Suddenly he lifted up his arm and Hermione jumped slightly by surprise. She watched how he raised his hand, almost touching her face. Draco's eyes observed her. He eyed her up, she wished she knew what he was thinking, but his expression was unreadable.

Then, his hand moved past her cheek, almost brushing it and he gently touched her hair. He drove his fingers through them, maybe one could even tell that he was caressing them, her long, wavy hair.

Hermione was surprised. Her heart started to fasten its beat and her cheeks turned rose. She had goosebumps all over her body. Everything was too intense, and she didn't know why he acted this way, but she just let him and watched him. She didn't know why she hadn't shoved him away by now. Maybe because she was too much in a shock.

"Your hair," he breathed softly, "I like it this way."

Hermione felt a tingling in the pit of her stomach. Her body was much too affected by his words, by his voice. Her lungs felt heavy every time she inhaled and felt overly light as she exhaled.

Suddenly Draco leaned down to her, their faces closer than before. Hermione's heart throbbed awfully fast and loud, she was afraid it was going to explode. She stood there, petrified, as he bent down to her, nearing her.

Then he abruptly moved away and took some steps backwards. Draco and Hermione both were surprised and confused. Draco drove through his hair with a frown.

"_Shite! What was I doing! Shite!" _he cursed himself after he had realised what he had been about to do. His blood was still burning, it was boiling now. He tried to calm down and breathed deeply in and out.

Hermione was in shock, she didn't understand what had just happened. She didn't know if he had wanted to kiss her, if he had only tricked her and played with her. All she knew was that she hadn't stopped him. She hadn't pushed him away, she hadn't asked him what had been wrong with him as he had stepped too close to her.

No, she hadn't even interpreted it as _too_ close, _too_ near. Even as she had felt his warm breath on her skin, it hadn't bothered her. It rather bothered her that she now felt cold and odd without his warmth of his body and of his breath. She blushed deeply by that thought and glanced at Draco. He was watching her and she recognized a pinkish colour on his cheeks.

He cleared his throat and tried to act normal again.

"I have time on Sunday." he stated huskily, looking at the floor.

"Huh? Oh right... that's good... Harry's leaving tonight and will be gone the whole weekend." she muttered.

"Alright." Draco said shortly. "See you then." he stormed off.

Hermione still stood there for some minutes. She was actually waiting for Ron to come back, he had told he had forgotten something in the common room. But she was too tired to stay and wait any longer. With weary steps, she climbed up the stairs.

She just wanted to lie down and sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_Thanks for all who read this chapter, I know it's very long (7k+ words), longer than usual and it has like thousand different scenes so I guess thank you for reading it until the end!_

_Tell me how you found this chapter, did you like it? What do you think happens next?_  
_Please review! _

_Also, I've been thinking about writing a Tom x Ginny fanfiction after I wrote some chapters for this fanfic._  
_What do you think about that idea? Don't hate me for shipping Ginny and Tom hahaha, yes If you haven't noticed Ginny appeared rather often in this Chapter, probably because I grew fond of her since I found out about that fab gwtr ship._

_Thanks for reading! And thanks to my lovely beta reader Anna aka ChaoticNacho (wattpad)_


	9. 9 Early

**Author's Note:**

Yay I'm finally back after 10000years! I'm so sorry I had (and still have) so many things to do for school because I'm in my senior year and I have soo many exams to write! /cries/

Buut I still found time to write a chapter and I'll try to update regularly like every week~2 weeks!

**Now:** Updated version, corrected by my looovely beta reader, totally love her, Anna! You can find her on wattpad as "ImpossibleObsessions" and on archiveofourown as "enchantingfoxx"! Big thanks and many kisses for her! x

* * *

**Chapter 9: Early**

.

"Hermione!" Ginny smiled at her as she sauntered to the Gryffindor table and took a seat beside Hermione.

"Hey Gin," Hermione greeted her warmly, raising the corner of her lips tiredly. As always, Hermione had been the first of her friends to wake up and go eat breakfast. Normally she would've had a good night's sleep and been freshly awake, but this time she was rather weary, due to a certain blond haired man who couldn't seem to leave her thoughts.

After she had gone to her bedroom and laid down, she just couldn't fall asleep even though she had felt quite tired, or worse, she had _thought_ she had been tired, but instead she had lied in her bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling while thinking about the bizarre, odd moment she had had with Draco Malfoy. The odd moment _he _had created. She had thought about what a silly coincidence it had been that she had dressed as Aphrodite and he had dressed as Adonis, Aphrodite's lover.

Why did it have to be Malfoy—why did it have to be him wearing that costume? Hadn't that been rather uncharacteristic of him, anyways? And as if there were only two Greek gods. Had the universe played a joke at her?  
She shook her head at the thought and told herself that she was being irrational.

However, the costume had not been her _real_ problem. It had been the way he had looked at her, acted around her, how he had touched – caressed her hair, how he had told her that he had liked it...

How he almost kissed her.

That had been the thing that had kept her awake the whole night, and what also bothered her was that she hadn't shoved him away when he had leaned down to her, but had felt slightly disappointed (she had admitted it to herself after some hours of being awake as her strict mind had blurred due to her body becoming fatigued). And she had felt bad for being disappointed—she shouldn't have been—she should have thought about Ron, she should have waited for Ron. She shouldn't have let herself get carried away by Malfoy.

"So where were you yesterday?" Ginny grinned, bringing her back to the present. "You and Ron were gone so early _mysteriously_, too. I also notice that you're being extraordinarily dreamy... and sleepy for once!" the red head wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Hermione felt guiltier than before and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry for disappointing you, but I don't have any stories or gossip whatsoever to tell."... _About Ron, anyways,_ she finished the sentence silently and cried out of guiltiness in her mind.

Before her friend could question her she continued explaining. "I was just really tired and wanted to sleep, but I... um, I had a bad dream and that caused my, as I may quote 'extraordinary' sleepiness." she said and slurped her coffee.

Another person entered the Great Hall, which was noticeable since it was unusually empty, because everyone had stayed up way too late yesterday at the feast. Even the teachers weren't around.

Suddenly she gasped and her eyes widened when she saw no other than _Draco Malfoy_ stalking into the Hall heading towards the Slytherin table. She noticed that he glanced at her, but his eyes left her quickly as if he had never seen her.

"'Hermione? What's wrong?" Ginny asked, almost panicking at her friend's sudden reaction. She sounded almost worried.

"No-nothing. I just realized I haven't done my Arithmancy essay yet," she pretended.

_Lying again!_ She whined to herself.

Hermione found it almost surprising that these kinds of excuses always worked. Did everyone _really_ think that she'd forget about her Arithmancy essay? Ginny just laughed at her.

"So, why are _you_ up so early? I thought that you were the kind of person who would leave the feast last." Hermione inquired with a giggle as she changed the topic smoothly.

"Yeah, but you know, Harry left yesterday night and..." her friend started to explain, but Hermione's thoughts trailed off as she watched the blond man, who sat _purposely_ with his back facing them.

.

_She leaned against the cold wall, waiting for Ron to appear. She had been excited spending time with him tonight, but then he suddenly hurried away. "Sorry, 'Mione." he had said. "I'll be back, soon," he had said._

_But Hermione tried to keep her spirits. Besides, she wouldn't allow herself to get upset or angry with him. She knew he hated that, when she was so uptight, or as he would call it, "bitchy"._

_Suddenly she felt the weight of someone's stare. Abruptly she looked up and found Draco in front of the door of the Great Hall. He wasn't staring at her with disgust, though. His eyes glittered as if he had been looking for something and had finally found it. They were sparkling wildly—his grey eyes were storming._

_"M-Malfoy," Hermione stammered in a weak voice, almost whispering._

_She was stunned as he walked slowly to her, staring with wide, bewildered eyes she watched him. Her heart sped up with every step he neared her. She looked at his costume and she knew immediately that he was dressed as Adonis. She found it was almost ironic. Was it a silly coincidence or was the universe playing a trick on her? But she couldn't deny that it fit him perfectly, the white Greek robe paired with his platinum blond hair. _

_Draco stood in front of her, only some inches away. She could've kissed him if she wanted, that was how near their bodies were. She felt his warm breath dashing against her cheeks, which sent her shivers down her spine. And she heard it clearly, his breath fading into the dim music._

_She looked into his eyes, which were as grey as a summer storm. His gaze was so strong, too strong to avoid._

_Suddenly he lifted up his arm and Hermione jumped slightly by surprise. She watched how he raised his hand, almost touching her face. Draco's eyes observed her. He eyed her, and she wished she knew what he was thinking, but his expression was unreadable._

_Then, his hand moved past her cheek, almost brushing it and gently touched her hair. He drove his fingers through the strands. Maybe one could even say that he was caressing her long, wavy hair._

_Hermione was surprised. Her heart started to speed up and her cheeks turned rosy. She had goosebumps all over her body. Everything was too intense, and she didn't know why he was acting this way, but she just let him and watched him. She didn't know why she hadn't shoved him away by now. Maybe because she was too shocked._

_"Your hair," he breathed softly, "I like it this way."_

_Hermione felt a tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her body was too affected by his words, by his voice. Her lungs felt heavy every time she inhaled and felt overly light as she exhaled._

_Suddenly Draco leaned down to her, their faces closer than before. Hermione's heart throbbed awfully fast and loud, she was afraid it was going to explode. She stood there, petrified, as he bent down to her, nearing her._

"Hermione...? _Hermione_!" Ginny sang her name, sounding irritated, trying to wake her up from her daydream.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Ginny..." her voice was confused.

"You know what, I think I'll try to sleep again... you're right. I am uncommonly tired..." Hermione mumbled. Her friend just nodded understandingly with a concerned smile while Hermione stood up to leave.

"Hermione?" Ginny stopped her, Hermione turned her head to look at her.

"So, when you went to bed early and you weren't with Ron, where was he then?" Ginny asked her with a frown.

Hermione looked at her friend, puzzled, "I thought Ron only left the feast for a short time?"

"Hmm, maybe – well, maybe I just couldn't find him." Her friend smiled at her.

As Hermione left the Great Hall though, she was quite worried about Ronald. He had told her he'd return as soon as possible and that he had wanted to fetch something he had forgotten in the Gryffindor Tower. What if something had happened to him there? Should she go and check? Hermione shook her head. The other Gryffindors would've noticed it if something had been wrong and Ginny would've known.

"Granger." A cool voice spoke behind her. She shivered as he heard his voice. It was the man she had watched and _daydreamed _aboutjust minutes ago.

"Malfoy." She followed his greeting and turned around to face him. He looked very different compared to yesterday, his eyes cold and calm, mirroring his expression. He had his smirk on his face and looked like the Draco she had known for seven years: Arrogant and foul. But Hermione could read him a bit—she thought she sensed a hint of embarrassment and insecurity in him. Inwardly she laughed at herself for the thought—she was probably just imagining things and mixing it up with her own feelings. Although she had noticed the darkness under his eyes, which was uncommon for his fair skin, but again, maybe she was reading too much into little things.

"What do you want?" Hermione asked after a silent pause, trying to act confident in front of him, but her voice still cracked.

"When do I have to come over tomorrow?" He asked straightforwardly. "Don't get me wrong, Granger, seeing as I don't enjoy being in your company; nor do I want to snog you every week. I want our meetings to end." He then explained snidely. Hermione just rolled her eyes. His constant grumbling annoyed her.

"Oh, just admit it Malfoy, I know you love tutoring me." She said dryly.

"Is four o'clock alright, or are you not patient enough to wait for so long?" Hermione smirked at him, but he only snorted in response and gave her a cold nod, before turning around and leaving. Hermione's staged expression vanished then. She was utterly confused by Draco's approach, but she had hid it in front of him. She just couldn't understand why he had acted so strangely yesterday and again today. Hermione tried to ignore it, though, and distracted herself through studying for the rest of the day.

.

oOoOo

.

Hermione had a pile of books on the coffee table and one in her hands. She just couldn't decide which one interested her, because none really did. Her eyes never rested on the page in front of her, but kept glancing at the door and then to the clock. After that she came to the conclusion that it just wasn't her book (even though every book was usually her kind of book) , placed it on top of the pile and tried to read another one.

It was already quarter past four and Hermione had the feeling that she'd get sick of waiting. Not that she couldn't wait meeting _him_, no, she couldn't wait getting it over with. Her nerves started to stretch to its breaking point.

Until she finally heard a knock, then she definitely lost it. With slightly shaking hands she closed her book (and pretended to be annoyed of being interrupted as she had been deeply consumed by the interesting piece of literature). Then she sighed heavily before she started acting up her confidence and opened at last the door with another inner sigh.

"You're late!" she spat as greeting as she let him in.

He threw himself on the sofa, feeling, as Hermione interpreted, _too comfortable_ and had an amused smirk on his lips enjoying her angry expression.

"I'm so sorry, darling" he grinned as he grabbed the uppermost book and crossed his legs which he then stretched out on the couch.

Hermione rolled her eyes and stood in front of him, waiting for him to move. She hadn't been this annoyed by him for a long time, he acted like the biggest git on earth – which shouldn't have surprised her, but she had actually believed some times that he had changed a tiny bit during summer.

"About what is this interesting book you're reading?" He asked as he flicked though it and started studying a randomly chosen page.

"It's about – wait a moment... You haven't given me my Numerology book back!" She remembered.

First she was about to explode, she didn't like it when other people kept her books, mostly they didn't treat them well or lost them. But then a small smile formed on her lips.

"Of course, now I understand." She grinned.

"You don't understand it! Draco _Malfoy_ can't figure it out. Is the book one level too high for you?" She teased him.

"Oh shut up, will you? It is not too difficult for me, I just didn't have enough time to go through it yet." he claimed, but he couldn't convince Hermione as she still smiled cheekily.

"Whatever, Malfoy. You can keep it one more week," she said and tried to recapture a serious expression.

Draco put the book back on the pile and he finally moved his legs, so she could take a seat beside him.

She could smell this familiar fragrance again, _his_ bitter-sweet fragrance, which should be a warning to her that his body was too close to her. But if she was a fool she would've moved away, seeing as he was here to _kiss_ her.

She could never get used to that thought.

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy kissing each other – it should be a bad joke, it should make her laugh, it should frighten her. It should repulse her. But it wasn't a joke, it was her reality and as much as it should repulse her...

"Granger," a bored voice tore Hermione from her thoughts.

"You're thinking too much," he said then, not changing his tone.

Hermione's mind went blank. She totally agreed with him, she was thinking too much, way too much.

She gulped and nodded slowly.

"So… I'll see how you kiss and if you made any progress. Then I can tell you what you should, and shouldn't do." He explained.

Draco then came closer to her. Hermione almost forgot to breathe. His face was only inches away from hers; he was as close as he had been on Halloween. Hermione's heart stopped when she thought about that memory. And only as he was about to lean in, she inhaled, taking in his comforting scent.

"Let's get it over with." He said in a soft, calm voice.

Hermione closed her eyes without hesitating. Draco's lips brushed hers gently. They were warm and soft, but at the same time rough and mature. Her heart started to race fast and she felt the hormones rush through her veins. She kissed him back. She remembered that she should show him her skills, so she leaned in deeper.

The kiss started to get passionate and Hermione thought what she had always done while kissing him: She thought that he was undoubtedly a good kisser, the best she had ever kissed.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and started to mischievously play with her tongue. Hermione felt a myriad of different emotions rush through her. She felt like floating. She loved it.

Suddenly both of them heard the entrance door open. They jumped apart as quickly as possible, she had her heart in her mouth. She looked to the door, almost getting a heart attack.

Her eyes found Harry standing at the door with the same shocked expression Draco and she herself had on their faces.

"H-Hermione! What... what the _fuck_ are you doing? With Malfoy?" Harry stammered, then he got louder, his tone growing furious and confused at the same time.

"Harry… I can explain!" Hermione said, her brows were knitted in worry. Her whole body and her voice were trembling. How could she let herself get caught by Harry? Why did he return early, _too _early? She imagined what he was probably thinking, he was surely thinking she was cheating on Ron!

"What is there to explain?! You are **snogging** Malfoy! But you're with Ron! How- how did this even happen? Why are you doing this Hermione?! I thought you couldn't stand him, and after all this time you – you were snogging him?! Argh!" he continued and tousled frustrated his hair.

"Fuck, Hermione, fuck! What are you doing? Why? What about Ron? What is this?!" As goodhearted as Harry was, his anger in his voice already started to fade a little and his confusion and worry grew.

"Harry…" she said again with a cracked voice and took a few steps to him.

Harry's breath was loud, but it faded as he gradually calmed down.

There was silence. Harry looked intensely at Hermione, who didn't know where to start, who didn't know how to explain herself.

After another moment of silence, Harry inhaled deeply.

"I think you should go, Malfoy" he said with a cool voice afterwards.

Hermione reddened as Draco walked past her, then past Harry. His slow, hesitant steps gave the tension in the air an awkward hint. Harry glared at him with a mien that exposed the variation of feelings he was experiencing at the moment. Hermione's stare however was glued on the floor – she couldn't watch him leave the room, it was too embarrassing for her.

After she heard the door close, she let herself sigh heavily and fell into the sofa. She was still trembling and she felt the blood throb under the flesh of her face.

"I – I can explain everything, I swear," she repeated and looked worried at him. He frowned at her, but walked with weary steps to her anyway and sat beside her,

"Then start to explain, Hermione." he said while pushing his glasses up with his index finger.

Hermione told him the whole story: She told him how happy she had been with Ron during the summer vacation, how they had been looking forward to have their first time with each other. Then she told him about the first night at Hogwarts, that it had been the start of the disaster and how horrible she had felt as her plans had been become just a dream, how Ron had treated her afterwards and how she conveniently had ran into Draco Malfoy. Then she told Harry about her progress with Ron and that she was sure those lessons had helped her a lot with her relationship.

"And I was about to end those... meetings with Malfoy" she said, her voice still shaky due to the previous shock.

"But then you came... too early" she pointed out with a light, false smile.

Harry grabbed her hand and pressed it as his comforting, green eyes looked at her. Hermione had felt awkward and insecure telling him about everything, but now she knew that it would be okay and she was relieved to have had a chance to reveal her secrets and feelings for once.

"Okay, Hermione. Somehow I can understand why you met up with Malfoy – even though I find it quite absurd... and rather _disturbing._" He grinned at her.

"I know Harry, I still find it disturbing myself," she grimaced.

"Anyway, I won't tell Ron a thing, but you have to." His tone grew serious.

Hermione nodded slowly. She knew Harry was right, she had to tell Ron everything. But to be honest, she was confident that their relationship was strong again, strong enough to survive the confrontation she was going to cause. And she would tell him as soon as she'd find a chance to do so.

"I promise you Harry, I will." she nodded again.

"But, Merlin's Beard... Hermione, why in the world did it have to be Draco Malfoy?" He whined jokingly.

"Oh Harry, just quit thinking about him, things will only get weirder," she giggled. "But why are you early? Aren't you supposed to arrive late at night or even only tomorrow around breakfast?" She inquired.

"Yes, but I didn't have that much work to do for the Ministry, they wanted me to go over some contracts for the Auror training. So I reckoned I could read those at Hogwarts as well and I knew Ginny would be happy when I'd join tonight's supper party." he explained.

"The supper party?!" Hermione gasped. "Oh dear, Harry! I almost forgot! Professor Slughorn would be devastated if I don't go to the first meeting of the school year!" She said.

.

oOoOo

.

Hermione heard the echo of her shoes as she walked through the stone corridors to Slughorn's office. Harry had offered to accompany her, but she had known it was only out of politeness and that he had been looking forward to going with Ginny to the supper party.

Hermione was very nearly late, seeing as it was almost eight o'clock, which was when the meeting started, but everybody usually arrived ten minutes earlier. But she still had had to shower (and wash all that dirtiness and Malfoy scent off) and had had to pick out dress robes for the formal supper. Then she had decided to do something with her hair because she still had had some time left – and she had found out that "doing something with her hair" had cost her more time as she had thought. That was why she was running _late_ now.

She arrived in front of Professor Slughorn's office. Quickly she knocked and entered without waiting for a response.

"Good evening, Professor." she said as she strode with fast steps to the dining table.

Then she apologized: "I'm sorry I am..." she paused as she found Draco at the table, his eyes were locked with hers. Their colour were just like at Halloween. They glittered and stormed in every shade of grey one could imagine... and then they were dull.

"late, Sir..." she finished, her voice faded. She tried to be calm, but she couldn't. Her face started to blush and she could feel a lump in her throat.

"Ah, Miss Granger, no worries, you are just in time for the _hors d'oeuvre. _Take a seat!" he offered and pointed to the free place between Melinda Bobbin and Blaise Zabini.

Panicked she looked at Harry, trying to find out what in Merlin's Beard Malfoy was doing here. But he only shrugged his shoulders.

This was like a nightmare created for her. Harry, Draco and her in one room eating supper together. She doubted that she'd survive the heavy tension.

That bloody Draco, he shouldn't be here, no. He hadn't been in the Slug Club in her sixth year, why was he in now? And what was that for a look in his eyes... why did she pause her sentence... why did he influence her that much?

She poked around in her appetizer, not feeling like eating it. At least she couldn't look at him since he was sitting beside Zabini.

"So," Professor Slughorn cleared his throat, "Mr. Malfoy, I have heard from Septima that you're a good Arithmancer. Almost as good as Miss Granger!"

Hermione blanched as she heard her name mentioned. This progressed worse than she had imagined.

"I know that she doesn't want to be a professional Arithmancer after Hogwarts, isn't that right?" he quickly glanced to her and continued talking with Draco.

Now she found her appetite again, she needed food, because she couldn't handle this without any.

"But you, Mr. Malfoy, are you interested in becoming an Arithmancer?" he asked interested. The other members were silent and listened to the conversation, Hermione was chewing her food nervously since the tension didn't get lighter.

"No, Professor. How much I enjoy Arithmancy, that's not my plan after this school year. I will take over the family businesses and as it is my mother's desire I will get engaged."

Hermione almost choked on her appetizer, but she could control herself and swallowed everything down, not allowing to draw everyone's attention to her.

She couldn't imagine Malfoy having a fiancée, let alone being married. She never saw him as a loyal husband or loyal boyfriend, she knew he was always sleeping with any girl that aroused him. He could never be a loyal, loving husband. He would turn out like his father for sure. She was about to feel pity for his future wife, but thought it would be her own fault to be letting herself in with a guy like Malfoy.

Professor Slughorn talked with Draco some more minutes, and Hermione was glad when he started a new conversation with Harry and with other students. But the tension was constantly there, which made supper seem longer than it should have felt.

As it was time for pudding, the members gradually started to make conversation with one another. After everyone were finished eating, Harry was talking with Ginny about the Ministry, Melinda Bobbin debating with a new Slug member called Stewart Ackerley and the Carrow twins had started a conversation with Draco, which Hermione found quite strange since the Carrow twins had never really talked, but then she had forgotten that Draco was the "Slytherin Prince" and every Slytherin would die to talk with him.

"Yeah, quite weird seeing Hestia and Flora talk for the first time." Zabini grinned at her. Hermione was startled, was it that obvious to others what she thought?

"Don't worry, I can't read your mind, love. I have just seen enough reactions to it to know." he tried to pacify her, but it didn't really work.

Hermione just fake-smiled at him, she didn't want to start talking with Zabini, yes, he had a thing with Luna and that was why she should be friendly with him, but he was also Draco's best friend so she really didn't want to associate with him.

"I didn't know that you're in the Arithmancy class together with Draco," he attempted to make conversation again.

"Well, it's actually my favourite subject... followed by Ancient Runes, of course," she explained, she couldn't hold back her passion.

"Really?" Zabini chuckled.

"Then you have a major thing in common with Draco, he loves Ancient Runes, but not as much as Arithmancy. When he starts to talk about those subjects, no one can hold him back. He will not stop until he has told you everything he wants you to know, damn can you imagine that?"

Hermione didn't feel like imagining it, because she didn't want to have anything in common with Malfoy. She didn't want to know about his hobbies and desires.

"I bet if both of you were in Ravenclaw or something, you would've become mates, man." he grinned.

Hermione couldn't believe what Zabini just said. Why would he say something like that? She nearly had a seizure. She would never be _mates_ with Malfoy, not in this universe, not in another one. Hermione almost laughed at the thought of that, but she was in a too strong stupefaction for that.

She just fake-smiled at him again.

Her and Draco, _mates_.

Hermione allowed herself to glance at him. But she found him looking back at her. Quickly she looked away, feeling caught at doing something almost forbidden. She thought that he was talking with the Carrow twins and that he didn't listen to the conversation she had had with Blaise.

He wasn't, was he?

Hermione could feel the awkwardness creep under her skin. She felt Draco's eyes on her, but she didn't allow herself to look at him again.

And then there was Harry, he was probably watching Draco watching her.

This whole day was a mess. It was horrible that Harry knew about her secret, it had felt good to let everything out in the beginning, but now she just felt weird and stupid and guilty and caught.

Hermione knew she had to end those tutoring lessons and she had to tell Ron everything about it as soon as possible.

The sooner, the better.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Yep, roller coaser feeling, abrupt end, wheew.

Sooo what do you think will happen next?  
Should Hermione tell Ron about her and Draco or not?

Please review and follow / favourite!

Thank you very much for reading! xo

_PS: I will write a TomxGinny fanfiction, I'll probably start in the coming weeks, but I'll keep you updated if you're interested!_


	10. 10 Hogsmeade

**A/N:** Dear readers, thank you very much for being patient with me!  
Hope you'll enjoy this chapter!  
And also thank you for all your reviews/follows/favourites! xo

* * *

**Chapter 10: Hogsmeade**

.

"You shall all read the chapter _Human to Food Transfiguration _for homework." Professor McGonagall demanded, right before the bell rang. Hermione sighed heavily as she closed her book. Going to class was difficult for her at the moment. The lessons weren't the problem, of course—they had never been—but _the people_ were. She couldn't be in the same room as Harry when Draco was there—it would've been totally fine, if it was only Harry, because then she could ignore what had happened. But she could feel the tension rise when Draco was there, too—and she hated it.

So, to be more precise, it wasn't the _people_ that were difficult, but the situation itself. It reminded her of last Sunday, a memory she sincerely wished to forget. She could still feel the shock she had got when she had heard the head's door open, all the while she had been snogging Draco. She wanted to, but couldn't forget the look in Harry's eyes: angry, furious, confused, hurt. And Draco's expression; he had looked alive and awake, yet he also looked terrified and aghast. She had seen her own feelings mirrored in his face.

And then, there had been the supper with the Slug Club—and it had been a _traumatizing_ experience. She hadn't been mentally prepared to face him so early again. She had thought it would had been a nice meeting where she could've relaxed and could've forgotten about the previous events from that Sunday afternoon. But her luck had left her, how could she have forgotten that, it had left her at the beginning of September.

However, that was not the actual problem. It was that when she had seen Draco sitting at the dining table, she hadn't thought about that incident at first. No, she had thought about Halloween, about how he had looked at her with his wild eyes, and how he had nearly kissed her, and how she had felt a tiny little bit, deep down in her guilty, yet sincere heart, disappointed as he had stepped back and lost all his colour in his eyes.

"So will you come, Hermione?" Harry stalked beside her, bringing her back to the present. _"Damn it, Hermione, will you stop thinking about Draco fucking Malfoy?!" _She cried to herself.

"Will you come with us to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Harry repeated while they walked down the corridor, "You know, Ginny and I, and Ron and you, it would be nice to do something together again."

"Sure. I'd love that, Harry." She smiled softly at him.

"Speaking of Ron, why didn't he come to classes, _again?_ I'm worried about him. You know he skips school from time to time. What if he'll be dropped out of Hogwarts?" She asked Harry in a desperate voice.

It was Tuesday, and Ron hadn't come to class since the new week had started. He only appeared at meals.

"You shouldn't worry too much about it. I think he's had migraines since Sunday, anyway." Harry hastily said as they forced themselves through the crowd that grew with more pupils who emptied the classrooms and filled the corridor.

"Whatever, we'll talk about it later and I'll definitely talk with Ron about it, too." She replied, and bade him farewell when they reached the library entrance, seeing as how Harry wasn't going to join her.

.

oOoOo

.

The library was Hermione's sanctuary. The peaceful atmosphere calmed her down, and the silence was beautiful compared to the noise outside in the corridors.

Hermione inhaled the scent of the room. It smelled like old books and parchment in here, which comforted her greatly. With careful steps she walked to her favourite place to study: a corner that was quite always empty and an equal distance from other students _and_ Madame Pince.

She pulled out her Ancient Runes book out of her satchel bag with a parchment long enough for her essay and started to write. She had already spent half an hour in the library by then, but it felt like only five minutes had passed. Every time she wrote an essay for Ancient Runes, her pen would never stop. She was in the zone.

But then she felt a particular feeling of someone's presence, which oddly made her lose her concentration. Irritated, her eyes flicked to the person sitting at the desk in front of her who was the cause of the disturbance of her train of thought.

Her eyes widened. She found Malfoy in front of her. She almost started to let herself become hysterical, but then she read the cover of the book his face was hidden behind.

It was her Numerology book. A wide grin stretched on her lips.

"Having a hard time understanding that lovely book of yours, Malfoy?" She called, trying to keep her voice low, seeing as how she didn't want to attract Madam Pince's attention.

Hermione saw his face peeking out with a scowl on it, which made Hermione grin even wider.

"Like I have told you, Granger," he hissed, "I didn't have time to go through it yet."

"Wow, you're in a grumpy mood... Probably because your brain just can't handle it." She teased him again, and laughed when she saw him roll his eyes.

He placed the book on the table, then he walked to her. His scowl disappeared and grew into a smirk.

"Honestly, Granger. You heard Slughorn. I'm quite good in Arithmancy." He said amusedly, his eyes twinkling.

Hermione's laugh faded as she was reminded about the whole day. Her cheeks heated up and she looked away, feeling uncomfortable. She had completely forgotten about the incidents that had happened and was fooling around with him. Now everything came back to her mind and with it came the tension. She didn't know how to respond. Why did he have to address that day anyway? It was awkward for him, too, wasn't it?

She glanced at him, catching him smirking. Then she bit on her tongue. Of course, he did it on purpose. Why should anything be awkward for the _mighty_ Draco Malfoy? She forgot for a moment that he wasn't human. His confidence, topped with his sly expression on his face sickened her.

She cleared her throat. "Well, may I remind you that I am in a better position than you are?" She acted her confidence, but she couldn't suppress her face turning red.

There was silence. Hermione bore holes into her parchment with her eyes. She heard Draco breathe calmly and steadily until he took a deep breath of air.

"I reckon Potter forgave you about last Sunday, didn't he?" Draco asked, he didn't sound mean or rude anymore. Hermione hesitated answering him, she didn't want to talk with him about serious topics when he had his typical attitude on. She looked up to him noticing that his smirk, scowl or any grimace was gone. The only thing she saw was his serious, emotionless face and his fair porcelain skin that seemed ever so flawless without a single wrinkle on it.

"Yes, he did... After a detailed explanation." Hermione then sighed. "But he expects me to tell Ron everything."

Draco nodded in the silence. He watched her carefully, and she could feel his intense stare. It made her uncomfortable, the air felt so heavy every time he was around, she didn't know what to do nor to say. She hoped the conversation would end soon.

She couldn't bear the weight of the atmosphere anymore and decided it was best to leave. With a heavy sigh, she packed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. But before she left, her gaze wandered back to Malfoy.

"Malfoy..." She hesitated, her pulse rising as she started to become nervous. "Could I maybe… still... have the last lesson with you?"

Before she could regret her silly question and take it back, Draco answered her, smirking.

"After all that happened? Whatever, we made a deal... But I am busy, I can't meet with you any time soon." Hermione nodded, her cheeks flushing, and she felt like a fool for asking him that.

Before she left, she saw Draco open his mouth to say something; but after a moment of hesitation, he decided not to. So she walked to her own common room, her heart feeling awfully strange, as she was feeling rather a lot of different things at a time. She was embarrassed, since she thought she'd went too far with her question, but then she also felt relieved about him accepting her request. However, she was also angry and irritated because of him—because he had to remind her about last Sunday, and because she was somehow able to talk light heartedly—to _joke—_with Malfoy.

Nevertheless, she was also glad. She didn't quite know why, but she also felt this warmth around her heart. She was in a good mood.

.

oOoOo

.

Hermione hummed to herself as she stood in front of the vanity unit putting her long locks into a half updo. Today was a Hogsmeade Saturday and she was looking forward to having a double date with Ron, Harry and Ginny.

She hoped that she would also get some alone time with Ron, and tell him about Malfoy. She had to, she promised Harry. But she didn't feel courageous about it; even just thinking about it made her heart race. Either way, she_ had_ to—and would do it, and if she didn't have time at Hogsmeade, (she reckoned she would, though, because she knew Harry would intentionally give them time alone) she'd do it afterwards.

Hermione watched her reflection as she sighed to herself. With nervous hands she flattened her robe, lifted up her chin and decided that she was ready to leave.

She and Harry, who had waited patiently in their common room, climbed up the Gryffindor Tower to meet the Weasleys there.

Hermione didn't dare mention Malfoy or anything that might be related to him (including Arithmancy and Ancient Runes as well, which was sometimes difficult for her.)

"Godricus equitat leonum," Hermione murmured to the fat lady and entered the common room through the hole, Harry silently following her.

"Hermione, Harry." Ginny greeted them both directly with a warm smile and a hug. Ron was half sitting half lying on the sofa, and when he saw them, a forced smile crept up his lips that almost made his frown disappear. The weird expression on his face was far too familiar for Hermione to ignore.

"What's wrong, Ron?" She asked worriedly, although she could have remained silent.

"My stomach ache, it's back..." He grunted as he wrapped his arms around his belly.

"Dear Merlin, I have told you that you should go visit Madam Pomfrey." She said, but not in her usual clear tone. She felt a sting in her heart, a slight, but bitter disappointment, because she knew what was coming next.

"No, I'll just stay here, more comfortable, you know. I'm sorry Hermione, but I reckon I can't go with you to Hogsmeade..." He mumbled as he looked away, not daring to make eye contact with her.

"Okay." She breathed. She knew it wasn't his fault, but he had had stomach aches for so many times and he still hadn't gone to see Madam Pomfrey, which was typical for him, somehow, but it bothered her nonetheless.

"Hope you feel better soon." She said and gave him a peck on his cheek.

After Harry and Ginny also bade Ron farewell, they started their way to the front gates to take the carriage to Hogsmeade.

The walk took a long time, the fresh wind blew into their faces and tangled their hair, and the cold weather made them hold their robes tightly around their bodies. No one had enough energy to talk, as they needed everything they had to keep their bodies warm, since the warming spell couldn't keep up with the strong wind.

Hermione's thoughts drifted away until she was thinking about Ron again. She was disappointed, even though she knew it wasn't his fault that he had aches. But the situation just pulled down her mood. She had been nervous, but ready to tell Ron everything and had hoped that it would be the end of this mess of her relationship. Also, she felt extremely guilty for asking Draco again for a lesson, it was foolish and selfish of her—she wanted to _end _the drama after talking with Ron about it, how could she even have one of those silly kissing lessons after telling Ron about it? Was she imagining that he would even let her be near Draco?

She shook her head.

Hermione didn't even know if Ron would accept her after the confession. After she had thought about her speech throughout the entire day before, she had realised how ridiculous she would sound, how insane she had been to take bloody _kissing lessons_. And the fact that Draco was her tutor made everything even worse—it just seemed like a bad joke. And she knew how much Ronald hated him. How did she ever think that her whole act was acceptable?

But these thoughts just made it more and more urgent to speak with Ron, she was almost drowning with guilt. She couldn't hold it any longer.

They were about to pass Hagrid's hut when Hermione stopped walking. Harry and Ginny turned around to look at her, and Ginny's expression more confused than Harry's, both of them waiting for her to speak.

"You know what, you both should have a nice time in Hogsmeade, _alone_, I wi-"

"No Hermione, you can come with us of course!" Ginny insisted, but Harry put his hand on her shoulder as a sign that she should let Hermione explain.

Giving Harry a thankful glance, she continued. "No Ginny, it's okay. I should take care of Ron—I feel awful leaving him behind. Besides, I need to sort some things out with him." Hermione gave Ginny a reassuring smile.

"Alright, I'll let you go if you insist. But you need to know that you mustn't feel left out when you're with us." Ginny grinned and bade her farewell as Harry did.

Hermione turned around and started her way back to the castle, her steps were fast and confident at first and as closer as she came to the castle the wearier and more nervous they became, until she stood in front of the fat lady. Her hands were trembling. Nonetheless, she didn't regret her decision, nor did she want to go back and hide in her own common room. She was ready to speak with Ron. After taking a deep breath, she said the password with a shaky voice and climbed through the hole.

With slow steps she walked to the common room, her eyes catching the sofa where she expected Ron to be.

She gasped at what she saw, her heart started to beat fast, and her blood seemed to catch on fire. She couldn't believe what she saw. Her eyes went wet, and her heart felt a painful sting—no. Not a sting… her heart was ripped apart. Tears started to roll down her cheeks fast..

She saw Ron lying on the sofa with Lavender on top of him, his arms embracing her. They were snogging passionately with moans escaping their lips and his hand wandering from feeling her waist to grabbing her arse, both of them oblivious to Hermione's presence.

Hermione couldn't believe it, was this really happening? Ron and Lavender, _again_. She watched them both, wanting to yell at them, rip them apart, she wanted to ask him _why_, but she was like stupefied, she couldn't move, couldn't speak. It didn't seem like reality, was that really Ronald? Was it really him? Maybe she just imagined things, maybe it was someone else lying under Lavender.

She watched the red haired man clearly, but his face, his moves, everything about him was too familiar to her, and that was when it really hit her; when she realised that this all was _very_ real and it was Ron and Lavender in front of her, snogging each other.

Her heart broke into thousand pieces, and it hurt awfully. Tears fell uncontrollably fast out her eyes that her vision was blurred, and she started to sob loudly.

"Ronald!" she cried with a broken voice. It was painful to use her voice, her whole body was shaking.

Ron jumped up and pushed Lavender away from her, she looked as shocked as him, but you could find guiltiness in his expression, too.

"Her-her-mio-" he started to stutter her name, but she cut him off.

"What are you doing? Ronald! You and Lavender? Why Ron, why?" She yelled. "I thought... I thought we..." she sobbed, her voice sounded raw and broken. She couldn't bring a straight sentence out, there was a mess, a chaos in her head and she felt too many different feelings.

"Hermione... I'm … I'm sorry... I- I swear it was real-" he tried to apologize, but Hermione couldn't hear him clearly, seeing as how her ears were ringing.

She sobbed loudly again, Ron started to walk to her, leaving Lavender on the sofa behind. He tried to cup her cheek, but she slapped his hand away.

"Hermione... Listen to me... please... I can explain..." he stammered.

"Yes Ron, explain. Why did you do this to me?" She cried, hitting his arms, then his chest as hard as possible, but she didn't have any power left. She had never felt this weak before.

"'Mione! I can explain... please—I really love you, b-but I thought Lavender was dead and when I saw her again on the first day-"

"First day? First day, you say?" She shouted, and there were no longer any tears dripping down her face. She was too furious to cry. Her face was flushed in deep crimson red out of pure anger and hatred.

"Since then? Since then you've been cheating on me?" She said with a hoarse voice, but it faded as realisation hit her. Everything made sense now, the first night, when they had planned to make love to each other, something she had been excited about for so long... And when he came too late, not attracted to her. It was not because of her, no, it was because he had met _her_ before, that was why he was late, and he couldn't get an erection because... because he had been satisfied already.

"You... you had slept with her, Ron?" she asked, her voice was small and quiet, but articulate enough that even Lavender could hear her. He hesitated and gulped, but it was a clear answer to Hermione.

"Even though we had waited so long for that moment..." she almost whispered, she didn't have much more power to yell at him, and her eyes started to get wet again.

"Do you love her?" She asked then, her voice was shaking, but it was strong now, as she pulled her herself together.

After a moment of hesitation, Ron decided to answer her question.

"Yes, I love Lavender. I'm sorry." He said, and by reading his expression Hermione knew he said the pure truth.

Hermione shook her head, it hurt so much hearing his answer. Her body felt the heat of her anger and the coldness of her sorrow, and her whole body was on fire, every bone in her body was being ripped apart, it felt like she was being hit with a Crucio. Without saying anything else, she ran out of the common room.

She could hear him calling her name, but it was a dim sound fading into the loud shrill in her ears. Her eyes shed tears uncontrollably fast again as soon as she left the common room, and she ran down the stairs with weak steps, trying not to stumble but she did anyway. Her body fell down on the cold stone floor, her bare knees were scraped, seeing as she'd somehow lost her robe along the way. But the fall didn't hurt. Rather, she already felt too much pain that she couldn't feel new pain being added to her body.

Why did she decide to return, why did she have to discover the truth? Was the pain worth it? Because it hurt like hell. But the truth was always better, she should've known something was wrong with him, with their relationship.

"_Yes, I love Lavender"_

The sentence repeated itself in her mind, it kept her wounds fresh and open.

Slowly Hermione lifted her legs and pulled herself up. She still had her self-worth—she didn't want to be found broken on the floor by anyone.

She started walking slowly again. Her feet hurt, but she didn't care much. She almost felt numb, but the picture of Ron and Lavender always came up her mind, and Ron saying he loved her, it killed her every time anew. It made her speed up, it made her run again, and she tried to run away from the ache she felt, but hell caught up with her too soon. Fresh, hot tears fell on her irritated skin and it burned, but she was oblivious to that.

Suddenly she bumped into a strong figure and an angry voice yelled at her.

"Granger!" She heard him spit her name. _Déjà vu._

She looked up, even though she knew it was Malfoy. He looked angry, but his expression changed rapidly as soon as he saw her red, swollen eyes, and her flushed cheeks full of tears.

He didn't know what to say, his throat went dry, but it didn't matter, because she spoke first.

"I won't be bothering you again, you don't have to give me any tutoring lessons again." She uttered, her hoarse voice shocking Draco.

He wanted to say something, he wanted to ask her why, but didn't know if it was appropriate. A way to comfort her flashed through his mind, but he suppressed it quickly. A cocky smirk appeared on his face as he looked down to the broken Gryffindor.

"Finally. Couldn't handle it any longer to kiss you, anyways." He smirked and expected her to snap back, but she ran past him.

Hermione ran away, she ran and ran and ran. She had thought that she couldn't feel any more pain, but seeing Malfoy, letting him see her in her worst state, _again_, it just broke her even more. He could've spared the mean comment, she had been feeling awful about herself, but after hearing him say that to her made her feel worse. It hurt her self esteem even more. How could he be so cold hearted, why couldn't he hold back his attitude for once, at her worst state? But she hated herself, too. What did she expect from him, anyways? He was an arsehole—a prick with no heart.

She continued to run, until she found herself in front of her common room and entered it with the little remaining energy she had left before she broke down.

She lay on the floor, clenching her legs and allowed herself to let all the tears and sobs out.

After some hours, Harry and Ginny found her, both of them helped her up and brought her to one of the sofas and embraced her, comforted her and caressed her, until she cried herself to sleep on one of their shoulders.

* * *

**A/N:** The end... of this chapter; to be continued, of course!  
Yes, you all knew it, you all knew about Ron already ugh I'm too obvious hahaha.  
Still, please tell me what you think of this whole chapter and review, I am also ppen for criticism.

Do you think Ron is a bastard? Or do you think Hermione overreacted?... I mean, she had been snogging Draco? Isn't that cheating as well?  
Please tell me your opinion about this situation, wuahahaha and thanks again very much for reading! xx

Another big THANK YOU and million kisses and hugs go to my lovely lovely beta reader Anna, she works so hard to correct my grammar mistakes -honestly- she's the best! Check her out on wattpad. You can find her as "ImpossibleObsessions" (her username used to be ChaoticNacho)

Thanks again! xo (**PS:** If you have questions to my fanfic or something and you want a fast reply, write me on tumblr. My url is called "livingdramione")


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